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LIFE 


ANNE    HUTCHINSON; 


WITH    A    SKETCH    OF    THE 


AINTENOMIAN  CONTROVERSY  IN  MASSACHUSETTS; 


GEORGE     E.    ELLIS. 


^"^1^^ 


a 


PREFACE. 


Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson  has  never  yet  had  a 
biographer,  though  history  is  so  largely  indebted 
to  two  of  her  lineal  descendants,  Thomas  Hutch- 
inson, Governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  James  Sav- 
age, the  laborious  editor  of  the  Journal  of  Govern- 
or Winthrop,  the  father  of  Massachusetts.  Nor 
are  there  any  known  materials  for  a  biography  of 
Mrs.  Hutchinson,  in  the  strictest  sense  of  that 
word.  But  for  a  detail  o^  the  circumstances  and 
events,  which  alone  have  caused  her  name  to  live, 
the  materials  are  ample.  A  curious  inquirer 
might  be  glad  of  more  information  concerning 
her  hfe  in  England,  so  far  as  it  would  explain 
her  character  and  opinions,  showing  under  what 
influences  she  had  been  educated,  and  what 
help  she  there  found  in  attaining  her  peculiar 
views.  Her  history  and  experience  in  the  new 
world  are  identified  with  the  controversy,  which 
originated  in  her  instructions  to  an  assemblage 
of  women.  It  would  be  impossible  to  make  her 
life  a  subject  of  record  without  finding  the  whole 


170  PREFACE. 

interest  of  the  work  in  that  controversy.  And  so 
her  biography  must  be  written,  as  a  part  of  local 
history,  made  prominent  in  our  annals  by  the 
intensity  and  the  extension  of  the  feeling  which 
once  attached  to  it.  I  have  gone  no  further  into 
the  metaphysics  of  the  controversy  than  absolute 
necessity  required,  having  written  the  fewest 
possible  particulars  of  a  strictly  theological  char- 
acter. Incidental  allusions  to  all  the  interests, 
and  to  the  prominent  men  of  the  colony  at  that 
time,  are  required  by  the  course  of  the  events 
which  are  to  be  related. 

The  documents  preserved  among  the  manu- 
scripts in  the  Massachusetts  State-House,  and  the 
pamphlets  and  volumes  referred  to  in  the  foot 
notes,  are  authority  for  the  statements  in  the  text 
to  which  they  refer.  The  narrative  in  general  is 
composed  from  these  specified  materials,  by  a  fair, 
or  at  least  an  intentionally  candid  estimate  of  their 
fidelity  to  truth ;  when  they  tell  the  same  story 
in  different  ways,  the  variance  of  representation 
being  supposed  to  arise  from  natural  feeling  or 
prejudice. 


ANNE    FJUTCHINSON 


CHAPTER    I. 


Introductory  Observations  upon  the  Experience  and 
Situation  of  the  Colonists  of  Massachusetts. — 
Their  religious  Policy. —  The  Vexations  and 
Trials  which  they  encountered.  —  Their  Suf- 
ferings from  their  own  Errors.  —  Examples  of 
their  scrupulous  and  timid  Spirit   in  Religion. 

The  Antinomian  controversy  in  New  England, 
like  most  other  religious  controversies,  bears  for  its 
synonyme  the  name  of  an  individual,  the  prime 
mover  of  the  strife,  and  the  prominent  sufferer  by 
the  result.  In  this  case,  that  individual  was  a 
woman.  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson  has  thus  be- 
come one  of  the  historic  persons  of  our  annals. 
Her  character,  opinions,  and  experience  may 
therefore  fill  some  pages  with  matter  as  interest- 
ing as  it  is  important.  She  was  but  one  of  a 
series  of  sufferers,  one  of  a  line  of  witnesses, 
by  whose   endurance   and  testimony  religion  has 


172 


AMERICAN    BIOGRAPHY. 


gained  of  real  power  more  than  what  it  has  lost 
of  arbitrary  force  for  the  consciences  of  human 
beings. 

If  Providence  had  designed  to  offer  to  the 
colonists  of  Massachusetts  a  succession  of  oppor- 
tunities for  discovering  the  error,  and  impolicy, 
and  utter  futility  of  their  recognized  principle  of 
constraint  of  conscience  in  religion,  it  would 
seem,  humanly  speaking,  as  if  no  train  of  events 
could  have  been  more  wisely  adapted  to  such 
an  end,  than  that  which  actually  constituted  their 
experience.  It  is  a  somewhat  curious  fact,  that 
during  the  lives  of  the  first  generation  of  settlers 
upon  the  soil  of  Massachusetts,  not  a  single  year 
passed  by,  in  which  they  did  not  bring  the  civil 
power  to  bear  upon  a  strange  succession  of  per- 
sons obnoxious  for  a  religious  tenet.  Perhaps, 
however,  so  noble  a  principle  as  that  of  unlimited 
religious  freedom  is  the  offspring  of  too  long  a 
period,  the  growth  of  too  enlarged  a  culture,  to 
have  reached  its  maturity  in  centuries  of  time,  or 
even  amid  a  company  of  persecuted  exiles  con- 
stituting a  church  of  devout  Christian  believers. 
Religious  bigotry,  of  all  human  infirmities,  is  the 
least  willing  to  look  upon  its  own  likeness  in  the 
glass,  and  much  more  to  study  the  reflection  of 
its  features,  so  that  when  it  turns  away  it  may 
not  forget  the  lesson.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  not 
the  first  person  to  propose  to  the  Bay  colony  a 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  173 

lesson,  which  took  its  life  from  the  principle  of 
religious  freedom.  She  and  her  companions 
found  a  place  of  refuge,  in  their  banishment, 
through  the  friendly  agency  of  Roger  Williams, 
who  had  but  just  before  proclaimed  a  doctrine  in 
Massachusetts,  which  would  have  silenced  the 
Antinomian  controversy,  or  at  least  have  left 
the  name  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  to  natural  oblivion. 
He,  however,  who  should  decide  that  there 
was  nothing  to  explain,  and  even  in  a  degree  to 
palliate,  the  measures  taken  by  Massachusetts 
against  the  succession  of  persons  who  poured 
contempt  upon  her  religious  bigotry,  must  have 
read  her  history  without  candor.  The  explana- 
tion of  her  course  is  to  be  found  in  the  spirit  of 
the  age,  the  same  over  Christendom ;  a  degree 
of  palliation  for  her  measures  is  insured  by  a 
peculiar  delusion,  which  was  honestly  and  pain- 
fully entertained  by  the  colonists,  and  by  their 
position.  An  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
facts  connected  with  their  harsh  proceedings 
against  Roger  Williams,  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  the 
Baptists,  and  the  early  Friends,  will  at  least 
give  to  the  persecutors  the  benefit  of  this  plea, 
that  the  same  error  and  weakness,  which  led 
them  into  intolerance,  kept  them  also  in  con- 
tinual disquiet,  called  up  before  them  a  series  of 
trying  vexations,  and  visited  them  with  plagues 
of  their   own    creation.      Mrs.    Hutchinson   and 


174  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

the  other  sufferers  felt  the  blows,  which  were 
inflicted  by  persons  possessed  of  an  evil  spirit, 
and  who  were  first  convulsed  and  crazed  by  its 
inward  workings,  before  they  found  a  meas- 
ure of  relief  by  striking  at  outward  objects. 
The  spirit  of  persecution  vexed  its  subjects  as 
much  as  its  objects,  the  persecutors  as  much  as 
the  persecuted.  As  this  view  of  the  matter  will 
help  to  illustrate  many  pages  of  our  early  history, 
and  will  especially  throw  light  upon  the  experi- 
ence through  which  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  led,  a 
few  facts  and  observations  embraced  in  it  may 
be  here  in  place. 

The  English  company,  whose  agents  and  ser- 
vants planted  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 
was  originally  designed  simply  for  purposes  of 
trade,  and  to  extend  the  King's  dominions.  The 
permanent  settlement  on  the  spot,  however,  was 
made  by  those  agents  and  servants  chiefly  as  a 
religious  enterprise.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  other 
than  a  religious  impulse  would  have  sustained 
the  undertaking,  as  all  previous  enterprises  of 
like  character  had  failed  through  lack  of  some- 
thing. The  Separatists,  a  peculiar  class  of  dis- 
senters from  the  English  church,  had  found  a 
wilderness  home  at  Plymouth  in  1620,  and  had 
seen  the  first  fruits  of  the  hard  soil  eight  years 
before  the  Non-Conformists,  another  class  of  dis- 
affected believers,  had  begun  at  Salem,  and  ten 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  175 

years  before  the  charter  officers  and  fifteen  hun- 
dred people  were  seated  at  Charlestown,  Boston, 
Dorchester,  Watertown,  Mystic,  and  Lynn.  An 
intensely  religious  spirit  swayed  with  sufficient 
power  the  breasts  of  enough  of  the  Massachu- 
setts company  to  overawe  and  control  the  few, 
who  might  have  merely  assumed  it,  or  been  in- 
diffi3rent  to  it.  Religion  was  the  food  and  com- 
fort of  their  souls.  It  was  far  more ;  it  was  the 
consuming  fire  which  ate  up  all  their  attach- 
ments and  remembrances  of  home,  all  their  re- 
grets at  leaving  it,  all  their  inclinations  to  re- 
pine at  hardships,  and  very  many,  though  not 
all,  of  their  baser  passions.  Boston  was  the  cen- 
tre of  their  united  religious  action.  They  came 
together  for  religious  exercises  more  frequently 
than  for  all  other  purposes ;  and  when  they  met 
for  any  other  purpose,  they  sanctified  it  at  the 
beginning  and  the  close  with  religious  exercises. 
They  found  in  the  Old  or  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, but  chiefly  in  the  former,  an  instance  or 
warrant  for  all  parts  of  their  wilderness  work ; 
for  constituting  a  church,  for  setting  the  bounds 
of  a  town,  for  electing  magistrates  or  captains,  or 
for  conducting  an  Indian  war.  "  Moses  his  ju- 
dicials  "  promised  to  be  a  sufficient  code  of  stat- 
utes, till  a  new  one  could  be  formed ;  and  even 
when  a  new  code  was  formed,  these  were  its 
basis. 


176  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

To  one  who  loves  to  explore  and  imagine 
past  scenes  and  incidents,  it  is  easy  to  call  back 
the  primitive  appearance  of  Boston  under  the 
planting  of  its  primitive  English  settlers.  The 
peninsula,  crowned  with  its  three  conical  hills, 
fringed  with  sea-marshes,  and  reposing  upon  a 
bay  whose  rivers  almost  severed  it  from  the 
continent,  was  soon  occupied  in  preference  to 
Charlestown,  the  original  settlement,  because  of 
an  excellent  spring  of  water  which  it  contained. 
The  ^' old  planter"  found  upon  the  peninsula 
was  William  Blackstone,  who,  as  if  ominously  of 
what  was  to  follow,  very  soon  moved  away  to 
the  region  where  Roger  Williams  afterwards 
found  a  refuge.  The  surface  of  Boston  was  an 
extended  pasture,  with  but  few  trees.  The  first 
few  years  of  its  English  occupancy  saw  it  dotted 
with  thatched  clay  cottages  and  huts,  and  a  meet- 
ing-house of  the  same  materials.  More  substan- 
tial but  very  small  dwellings  soon  appeared. 
William  Coddington,  a  fast  friend  of  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson, and  an  exile  with  her,  built  the  first  brick 
house.  Winding  foot-paths,  the  same  that  are 
now  streets,  connected  all  these  severed  dwell- 
ings with  each  other,  and  with  the  humble  place 
of  worship,  which  bore  the  same  relation  to  the 
new  town  as  does  the  centre  of  the  web  to  its 
radii  and  circles.  The  simile  might  even  be  car- 
ried further. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  177 

The  inhabitants  of  those  dwelHngs  were  all 
neighbors.  They  had  laborious  work  to  do,  but 
all  the  time  not  spent  in  work  was  given  to 
religious  discourse ;  none  to  reading,  save  the 
reading  of  the  Bible ;  none  at  all  to  relaxation. 
Prayer  was  unceasingly  offered.  Sacred  terms 
were  the  only  epithets  of  language.  Chapters 
of  Scripture,  which  even  the  most  pious  moth- 
ers now  allow  their  children  to  skip  over,  were 
then  as  familiar  as  the  beatitudes  of  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount ;  and  the  personal  examples  and 
traits  of  the  Old  Testament  characters  could  be 
"  instanced "  as  readily  as  the  conversion  of  St. 
Paul.  When,  within  less  than  ten  years  after 
the  settlement,  an  attempt  was  made  to  shorten 
the  length  of  time  which,  to  the  serious  detri- 
ment of  husbandry,  was  spent  in  lectures  and 
in  administering  church  discipline,  the  Court  re- 
ceived something  more  than  a  reprimand  from 
the  ministers,  and  was  forced  into  the  humble 
work  of  apology.  There  was  then  no  news- 
paper, no  library,  no  daily  mail,  no  club,  no 
merely  social  gathering,  in  Boston.  Intelligence 
was  received  from  across  the  water  as  often, 
indeed,  as  now.  Whole  fleets  arrived,  some- 
times, in  a  month,  and  news,  not  always  fresh, 
on  average  periods  of  a  week ;  so  great  was 
then  the  impulse  which  brought  "  unconformable 
persons  "  to  New  England.     Still  the  intelligence 

VOL.    VI.  12 


178  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

received  by  the  ships  was  mostly  rehgious  intel- 
ligence ;  and  the  books  that  came  by  them  were 
the  books  of  those  days,  the  small  quarto  con- 
troversial tract,  or  the  large  folio  Body  of  Di- 
vinity, the  funeral  sermon  of  a  favorite  preach- 
er, or  the  tractate  upon  church  policy.  They 
were  but  fuel  to  feed  a  flame  already  burning 
bright  upon  the  same  material. 

Now,  it  is  a  perfect  marvel  to  us  of  our  day, 
that  the  colonists  of  Massachusetts  were  not  pre- 
pared to  expect  the  very  cases  of  religious  va- 
riance and  strife,  which  they  encountered.  They 
ought  to  have  looked  for  them  as  much  as  for 
their  crops.  For  experience  has  proved,  in  op- 
position to  theory,  that  religious  combinations, 
and  leagues  cemented  by  offices  of  piety  and 
covenants  of  doctrinal  belief,  are  not  favorable 
to  union  and  social  peace.  A  favorite  phrase 
in  our  ancient  church  covenants,  by  which  the 
members  agreed  "  to  keep  mutual  watch  and 
ward "  over  one  another,  will  doubtless  have  a 
terrible  sum  of  strife  charged  upon  it  in  the 
judgment  of  the  great  day. 

Entering  into  such  a  covenant  in  letter  and 
in  spirit,  the  colonists  should  have  expected  just 
what  befell  them.  The  whole  tendency  of  Puri- 
tan teaching  was  to  educate  men  and  women 
to  those  very  notions  and  opinions,  the  succes- 
sive development  of  which  caused  such  dismay. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  179 

The  only  wonder  is,  that  so  few  were  devel- 
oped, and  that  these  were  so  moderate  in  their 
eccentricities.  There  was  in  the  colony,  from 
its  commencement,  at  least  one  university-taught 
scholar  for  every  two  hundred  inhabitants ;  but 
all  the  people  were  prophets.  There  were  fre- 
quent meetings  of  the  brethren  of  each  church 
for  religious  discourse  ;  and  "  prophesyings,"  and 
questions,  and  criticisms,  were  expected  and  al- 
lowed in  connection  with  the  services  of  public 
worship.  What  other  result,  then,  could  have 
followed  than  that  which  befell  ?  The  colonists 
were  constantly  in  a  state  of  uneasiness,  anxi- 
ety, and  disquietude,  and  perfectly  amazed  that, 
in  a  pattern  which  once  suited  all,  individual 
critics  were  successively  suggesting  one  and 
another  improvement. 

We  must  likewise  take  into  view  the  extreme 
conscientiousness  and  the  timid  superstition  of 
the  colonists.  Such  instances  as  the  following 
are  found  in  their  records ;  indeed,  make  up 
those  records.  The  revered  Cotton,  so  long 
tried  and  proved  in  England,  within  a  week 
after  his  arrival,  "  exercised "  on  Lord's  day  af- 
ternoon before  the  Boston  church,  which  he  had 
come  to  teach  ;  and,  as  he  was  then  propound- 
ed for  admission,  he  offered  in  baptism  his  son 
Seaborn,  who   came   into  existence   on    the  pas- 


180  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

sage,  as  the  name  imports.  ''  He  gave  two  rea- 
sons why  he  did  not  baptize  it  at  sea,  (not  for 
want  of  fresh  water,  for  he  held  sea  water 
would  have  served ;)  first,  because  they  had  no 
settled  congregation  there  ;  secondly,  because  a 
minister  hath  no  power  to  give  the  seals  but 
in  his  own  congregation."  *  Six  months  after- 
wards, the  same  excellent  gentleman  discoursed 
at  "Thursday  Lecture,"  when  ''a  question  was 
propounded  about  veils."  A  dispute  was  raised 
upon  a  difference  of  opinion  between  the  min- 
ister and  the  magistrate  Endicott,  and  only  the 
interposition  of  Governor  Winthrop  prevented  a 
downright  quarrel.f  About  a  year  after  the  ar- 
rival of  Winthrop's  company,  he,  as  Governor, 
with  the  Deputy  Dudley,  and  Elder  Nowell, 
went  in  midsummer  to  Watertown,  to  confer 
with  the  pastor  and  elder  there  "about  an  opin- 
ion which  they  had  published,  that  the  churches 
of  Rome  were  true  churches."  The  Court  after- 
wards took  the  matter  in  hand,  and  endeavored 
to  procure  the  dismission  of  Elder  Brown  for 
the  above  opinion,  and  for  "  maintaining  other 
errors  withal,  and  being  a  man  of  a  very  vio- 
lent   spirit."      The    controversy,    so    begun,    led 

*  Winthrop's  Journal,  Savage's  edition,  Vol.  I.  p.  110. 
t  Ibid.  p.  125. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  181 

through  many  visits  of  interference  to  his  dis- 
mission, for  an  exhibition  of  passion  and  temper 
into  which  he  had  been  goaded.* 

A  superstitious  fear  early  sent  the  spirit  of 
division  among  the  people  of  Charlestown.  The 
inconvenience  of  the  ferry  had  induced  them 
to  give  up  joining  in  the  worship  of  their  breth- 
ren, soon  after  the  church  had  removed  across 
the  river,  and  they  had  settled  a  pastor  for  them- 
selves. But  the  scruples  of  some  led  them  to 
question  their  right  to  separate  ;  and  even  after 
calling  two  councils  of  the  ministers,  they  could 
not  peaceably  decide  the  matter.f  Again,  Mr. 
Lothrop,  the  first  minister  of  Scituate,  who  had 
been  imprisoned  in  London  as  a  Non-Conformist 
preacher,  and  who  came  over  with  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson, desired  leave  of  the  Boston  church  to  be 
present  at  the  Lord's  supper,  "but  said  that  he 
durst  not  desire  to  partake  in  it,  because  he 
was  not  then  in  order,  (being  dismissed  from 
his  former  congregation,)  and  he  thought  it  not 
fit  to  be  suddenly  admitted  into  any  pther,  for 
example  sake,  and  because  of  the  deceitfulness 
of  man's  heart."  J 

These    are    specimens    of    the    extreme    and 

*  Winthrop,  Vol.  I.  pp.  58,  67,  95. 
t  Ibid.  p.  127.  t  Ibid.  p.  144. 


182 


AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 


timid  conscientiousness  or  superstition  which  con- 
tinually harrowed  the  subjects  of  it  with  anxi- 
ety, and  led  them  to  fear  agitation,  causing 
them  to  suffer  as  much  as  they  could  inflict  by 
a  mistaken  principle  of  religion.  These  were  all 
trivial  questions.  It  would  be  impossible  either 
to  excite  or  to  extend  an  interest  in  them  now 
in  the  same  regions.  But  then  they  were  mat- 
ters of  a  deeply  conscientious  import ;  and  trivial 
as  to  us  they  may  seem,  they  nevertheless  indi- 
cate one  great  step  of  advance  beyond  the 
themes  of  scholastic  disputation  in  a  preceding 
age,  and  the  questions  then  debated  ;  as,  for  in- 
stance, whether  Adam  would  have  sinned  had  it 
not  been  for  Eve,  and  whether  a  dead  priest 
could  say  mass. 

It  is  not  wonderful,  that  with  such  elements 
for  agitation  amongst  them,  and  constituting  the 
essence  of  their  peculiar  opinions,  the  Massachu- 
setts colonists  should  have  been  exposed  to  a  con- 
stant succession  of  infelicitous  and  quarrelsome 
experience.  Their  custom  of  calling  for  the 
advice  of  all  the  churches  in  differences  of  the 
most  trifling,  and  often  of  the  most  private  char- 
acter, might  even  lead  an  uncharitable  reader  of 
their  history  to  conclude,  that  they  made  dis- 
sensions for  the  sake  of  settling  them,  or  keeping 
them  open,  in  a  pious  way.     The  wonder  is,  that 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  183 

they  ever  agreed.  They  needed  no  importation 
from  abroad  of  the  vagaries  and  eccentricities, 
which  had  just  begun  to  swarm  in  England, 
such  as,  in  their  hydra-headed  and  chameleon- 
colored  varieties,  are  portrayed  by  Edwards,  Feat- 
ley,  and  Pagitt.  In  such  a  state  of  things,  the 
colonists  had  every  reason  to  look  for  trouble 
and  strife.  Not  only  were  they  at  the  mercy  of 
"  disordered  and  heady  persons,"  but  they  pro- 
duced from  among  themselves  a  large  number,  to 
whom  those  expressive  epithets  would  apply. 
Winthrop  adds  all  the  redeeming  claims  of 
candor  and  sincerity  to  weaknesses,  which  may 
be  excused  only  by  being  accounted  for.  It  is 
pleasant  to  observe  that  magnanimity  and  for- 
bearance were  not  wholly  wanting,  but  mingled 
some  of  their  genial  elements  in  the  waters  of 
strife. 


184  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY 


CHAPTER   11. 

Arrival  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  in  Boston.  —  Her 
Fellow-Passengers.  —  Parentage  and  Relation- 
ship. —  Religious  Experience  in  England.  — 
Her  Object  in  coming  to  New  England.  — 
Admission  to  the  Church  in  Boston.  —  Her 
Course  on  the  Passage.  —  Opinions  concerning 
her,  and,  her  friendly  and  useful  Services 
in  Boston.  —  The  first  Expression  of  her 
Opinions. 

The  preceding  sketch  may  present  to  us  an 
idea  of  the  state  of  things  to  which  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson was  introduced,  when  she  arrived  at  Boston 
in  the  ship  Griffin,  September  18th,  1634.  The 
Reverend  John  Lothrop,  as  already  mentioned, 
and  the  Reverend  Zechariah  Symmes,  afterwards 
minister  of  Charlestown,  came  with  her.  What 
opinion  the  former  gentleman  adopted  of  her 
and  of  her  embryo  views  on  the  passage,  we  have 
no  means  of  knowing,  as  he  does  not  appear  in 
the  proceedings  relating  to  her.  Mr.  Symmes, 
however,  took  a  prominent  part  against  her,  and 
averred  that  his  suspicions  of  her  were  aroused 
before  they  left  England.  The  same  ship  brought 
over  a  copy  of  the  commission  lately  granted  to 
the  two  archbishops  and  ten  of  the  privy  council 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  185 

as  a  committee  to  regulate  all  foreign  plantations, 
and  authority  to  call  in  patents  or  charters.  By 
this  commission  the  charter  of  the  Massachu- 
setts company,  which  Winthrop  had  brought 
with  him,  was  demanded  on  the  ground  of  com- 
plaints already  made  near  the  throne  by  per- 
sons who,  returning  from  Boston,  had  brought 
charges  against  the  government  of  the  colony. 
The  adroitness  of  the  Court  found  means,  in 
this  and  in  repeated  calls  of  the  same  character, 
to  evade  the  demands  by  pleading  in  turn  piety 
and  loyalty,  as  the  surrender  of  the  charter  would 
have  been  fatal  to  their  existence.* 

The  Reverend  Thomas  Welde,  of  Roxbury, 
one  of  the  most  zealous  of  the  opponents  of  Mrs. 
Hutchinson,  and  the  writer  of  a  brief  but  most 
dolorous  pamphlet  upon  the  troubles  caused  by 
her,  says  that  she  'vvas  ''  the  daughter  of  Mr. 
Marbury,  sometimes  a  preacher  in  Lincolnshire, 
after  of  London."  She  was  the  wife  of  Mr. 
William  Hutchinson,  a  man  of  a  good  estate, 
who  had  resided  at  Alford  in  the  same  shire. 
Winthrop,  whose  judgment  was  biased,  in  rela- 
tion to  her  at  least,  says  that  her  husband  "  was 
a  man  of  a  very  mild  temper  and  weak    parts, 


*  This  valuable  parchment  document,  after  escaping 
many  hazards,  is  now  reverently  displayed  in  the  chambers 
of  the  Secretary  of  State,  at  the  State-House  in  Boston. 


186  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

and  wholly  guided  by  his  wife."  *  He  appears 
to  have  been  a  peaceable  man,  well  esteemed 
and  much  trusted  before  his  wife  involved  him 
with  her  own  troubled  course.  The  records  of 
the  first  church  in  Boston  bear  the  following 
entries;  "26th  of  8th  month  (October)  1634. 
William  Hutchinson,  merchant,"  admitted  a 
member ;  and  "2d  of  9th  month  (November) 
Anne  Hutchinson,  wife  of  our  brother  William 
Hutchinson,"  admitted  a  member.  The  Rever- 
end John  Wheelwright  is  spoken  of  as  her 
brother,  but  we  are  ignorant  how  the  relation 
was  formed.  He  was  even  more  closely  allied 
to  her  in  opinions  and  sufferings. 

In  the  account  which  Mrs.  Hutchinson  gave 
of  herself  when  brought  before  the  Court,  she 
entered  into  her  religious  experience  in  England. 
Her  statements  very  much  resemble  those,  which 
the  first  of  the  sect  called  Quakers  soon  after 
gave,  relating  their  unsatisfied  thirst  and  hunger 
under  the  preaching,  which  was  dispensed  in  the 
parish  churches  of  England,  their  desire  for 
light,  their  inward  struggles,  the  exercises  of 
their  spirits,  and  the  flashing  of  convictions  into 
their  breasts,  sometimes  through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  Scripture,  by  the  forced  concentration 
of  the   thoughts   and    their  perpetual  occupation 

*  Winthrop,  Vol.  I.  p.  295. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  187 

upon  a  single  text,  but  more  frequently  •'  by 
way  of  revelations,"  that  is,  of  mysterious  prompt- 
ings referred  to  the  spirit  of  God.  We  have 
but  little  testimony  concerning  Mrs.  Hutchinson, 
which  does  not  come  from  her  opponents.  That 
her  mind  had  been  intensely  exercised  upon  the 
great  problems  of  religion,  as  well  as  upon  the 
records  and  doctrines  of  revelation,  is  very 
evident. 

With  those  allowances  to  human  infirmity 
which  the  best  and  wisest  do  need,  but  which 
only  the  best  and  wisest  know  how  to  yield,  and 
with  a  further  allowance  to  the  overwhelming 
reproaches  and  the  incessant  examinations  to 
which  she  was  subjected,  and  which  may  ac- 
count for  all  the  error  justly  charged  upon  her, 
nothing  can  be  discovered  or  inferred  in  this  age, 
from  any  known  record,  which  sullies  her  ma- 
tronly or  her  religious  character.  She  must  have 
been  richly  endowed  with  gifts  of  wisdom  and 
of  grace.  She  exhibited  great  inward  resources, 
with  much  of  patience.  She  displayed  no  worse 
or  greater  religious  perversity  than  that  of  en- 
thusiasm ;  and  this  only  in  a  form  different  from 
those  which  it  assumed  in  the  conduct  of  her 
opponents.  To  the  class  of  thinkers  and  rea- 
soners  to  which  she  belonged,  and  which  in- 
cludes many  whose  names  are  attached  to  the 
wildest  sects  of  the  period  of  the  English  Com- 


188 


AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 


monwealth,  we  are  indebted,  not  for  the  discov- 
ery, but  for  the  warm  recognition,  and  the 
earnest  and  eloquent  assertion,  of  some  of  the 
profoundest  spiritual  truths.  These  zealous  sec- 
tarians likewise  brought  out  the  power  of  many 
great  practical  lessons  of  Christianity. 

Mrs.  Hutchinson  had  been  interested  and  fed 
by  the  preaching  of  Cotton  and  Wheelwright  in 
England  ;  no  other  met  her  condition  and  wants. 
The  object  of  her  change  of  home  was,  that  she 
might  enjoy  the  ministry  of  the  exiled  preacher  at 
St.  Butolph's,  in  Boston,  Lincolnshire,  in  compli- 
ment to  whom  the  metropolis  of  New  England 
received  its  English  name.  Mr.  Cotton  had  been 
acquainted  with  her  at  home,  and  regarded  her 
and  her  family  as  estimable. 

It  is  not  probable  that  what  was  peculiar  in 
her  opinions  had  attained  to  any  very  definite 
form  or  shape  before  she  left  England.  But 
opinions,  and  peculiar  ones,  she  had  at  home  ; 
far  she  "vented  them"  on  shipboard,  and  startled 
^ome  of  the  passengers.  The  Reverend  Mr. 
Symmes  had  his  fears  aroused  concerning  her, 
and  imbibed  a  dread  or  dislike  of  her  notions,  of 
which  she  afterwards  felt  the  effects.  On  his  ar- 
rival, he  gave  notice  of  her  eccentricities,  her  spec- 
ulations, and  her  "  revelations,"  to  Mr.  Haynes, 
then  Governor,  and  to  the  Deputy,  Dudley.  It 
would  seem  as  if  she  had  had  "  a  revelation  "  as 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  189 

to  the  length  of  the  passage.  A  consultation  was 
had  among  the  ministers  and  elders  concerning 
her,  when  she  was  propounded  for  admission  to 
the  church,  the  consequence  of  which  was,  as  we 
have  seen,  that  her  admission,  though  granted, 
was  delayed  after  her  husband  had  been  received. 
Of  course,  when  notoriety  and  dissension  had 
spread  wide  the  knowledge  of  her  opinions,  with 
definitions  and  inferences  not  proposed  by  her- 
self, she  was  accused  of  having  dissembled  by 
concealment  or  explanations. 

Mr.  Welde  expressed  both  his  opinion  and  his 
feeling  in  reference  to  her,  by  describing  her  as 
''a  woman  of  a  haughty  and  fierce  carriage,  of 
a  nimble  wit  and  active  spirit,  and  a  very  voluble 
tongue,  more  bold  than  a  man,  though  in  under- 
standing and  judgment  inferior  to  many  wo- 
men." *  Josselyn,  the  voyager,  received  such 
an  account  of  her  in  his  visits  to  Boston,  as  to 
affix  to  her  name  the  epithet  of  the  ''  American 
Jezabel,"  f  as  also  does  Welde.  The  wearisome 
Johnson,  who  makes  up  for  withholding  names  in 
the  controversy,  by  freely  decking  the  hideousness 
and  folly  of  the  strife,  calls  Mrs.  Hutchinson  "  the 
masterpiece  of  women's  wit."  I  Winthrop,  with 
more  of  courtesy,  and  probably  as  much  more  of 

*  Welde's  Short  Storij,  &c.  p.  31. 

f  Josselyn's  Jlccount  of  Two  Voyages^  &c.  p.  257. 

X  Wonder- Working  Providence,  Ch.  62. 


190  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

truth,  describes  her  as  "  a  woman  of  a  ready  wit, 
and  bold  spirit."  *  Her  husband  took  the  free- 
man's oath,  March  4th,  1635,  (N.  S.)  and  was  at 
once  received  to  honor  and  place  as  a  representa- 
tive of  Boston  in  the  General  Court.f  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  immediately  attracted  attention  to 
herself  by  acts  and  offices  of  kindness,  and  was 
known  as  ''  a  woman  very  helpful  in  the  times  of 
childbirth,  and  other  occasions  of  bodily  disease, 
and  well  furnished  with  means  for  those  pur- 
poses." {  Her  kindness  thus  led  her  to  perform 
services  where  the  best  feelings  may  certainly  be 
exercised  to  advantage,  but  in  which,  according 
to  the  world's  experience  through  long  time,  the 
spirit  of  gossiping  and  of  superstitious  story- 
telling, to  say  nothing  of  personal  scandal,  finds 
a   vent. 

The  scenes  and  personages  to  which  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  was  thus  introduced,  and  the  oppor- 
tunities there  afforded,  were  admirably  adapted  to 
work  out  the  most  harm,  and  in  the  worst  way, 
from  any  elements  of  discord  which  she  might 
put  in  commotion.  For  such  services  as  she 
could  render  on  occasions  of  anxiety,  when  the 
presence  of  mind  and  the  all-enduring  patience 
of  a  woman  are  the  only  available  and  efficient 

*  Winthrop,  Vol.  I.  p.  200. 

f  Massachusetts  Court  Records,  Vol.  I.  under  date. 

i  W  aide's  Short  Storj,  p.  31. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  191 

resources,  especially  in  the  emergencies  of  a  new 
colony,  she  must  have  been  held  in  high  regard, 
for  she  was  a  volunteering  friend,  not  a  hireling. 
It  is  singular  that  none  of  our  writers  refer  to 
her  personal  appearance,  not  even  to  say  wheth- 
er or  not  she  was  at  all  indebted  to  good  looks 
for  any  measure  of  influence.  Their  uniform 
silence  on  this  point  is,  however,  significant  of  a 
lack  of  any  extraordinary  personal  charms.  It 
is  certain  that  Mrs.  Hutchinson  soon  obtained  a 
very  great  influence.  She  was  brought  into 
relations  of  close  intimacy  with  a  large  number 
of  persons,  and  made  herself  welcome  to  their 
warmest  sympathies. 

When  public  attention  was  drawn  to  her,  she 
had  already  won  to  herself,  directly  or  indirectly, 
the  large  majority,  indeed  all  but  some  half-dozen, 
of  the  members  of  the  Boston  church.  She  had 
used  her  opportunities  of  intimacy  and  confidence 
to  inquire  into  the  spiritual  state  of  her  female 
friends,  at  times  when  they  were  peculiarly  sus- 
ceptible of  impression.  She  usually  warned 
them,  (and  this  was  in  fact  the  burden  of  her 
heresy,)  against  trusting  too  much  to  ''gifts  and 
graces,"  which  was  but  a  "  a  legal  way ; "  and 
she  led  them  to  seek,  in  a  phrase  made  im- 
mensely popular,  for  "•  the  witness  of  the  Spirit," 
and  the  righteousness  of  Christ. 


192  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTEP*.    III. 

FiTst  public  Notice  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  her 
Opinions.  —  The  two  Covenants.  —  Her  Meet- 
ings of  Women.  — Antinomianism  and  Familisin. 
—  Revelations.  —  Political  Influences.  —  Gov- 
ernor Vane  and  Reverend  John  Wheelwright 
her  Friends.  —  The  Effects  produced  by  her 
Teachings.  —  Peculiar  Exposure  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  Reasons  for  dreading  Heresies. 

The  high-minded  and  devout  John  Winthrop, 
the  father  of  the  Massachusetts  colony,  a  careful, 
and  generally  a  most  candid  journalist  of  his 
own  times,  mal\£s  the  first  mention  of  Mrs. 
Hutchinson,  in  connection  with  her  obnoxious 
doctrines,  under  date  of  the  latter  part  of  October, 
1636,  when  she  had  been  in  the  colony  but  a  little 
more  than  two  years.  His  words  are,  "  One 
Mrs.  Hutchinson,  a  member  of  the  church  of 
Boston,  a  woman  of  a  ready  wit  and  bold  spirit, 
brought  over  with  her  two  dangerous  errors ; 
first,  that  the  person  of  the  Holy  Ghost  dwells 
in  a  justified  person ;  second,  that  no  sanctifica- 
tion  can  help  to  evidence  to  us  our  justification. 
From  these  two  grew  many  branches  ;  as,  first, 
our  union  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  so  as  a  Christian 
remains  dead  to  every   spiritual  action,  and  hath 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  193 

no  gifts  nor  graces,  other  than  such  as  are  in 
hypocrites,  nor  any  other  sanctification  but  the 
Holy  Ghost  himself."  * 

The  same  abstruse,  and  to  many  persons  unin- 
telligible character,  which  goes  through  this  whole 
controversy,  meets  us  at  its  very  commencement. 
It  will  be  observed  also  that  Winthrop,  after 
stating  fairly  the  two  great  points  defining  the 
acknowledged  views  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  pro- 
ceeds to  draw  from  them  inferences,  though  he 
wrote  out  but  one,  intending  more.  This  draw- 
ing of  inferences  will  be  found  to  have  consti- 
tuted the  great  mischief  of  the  whole  controversy ; 
for  the  inferences  were  invariably  bad,  though 
good  ones  might  have  been  as  readily  deduced 
from  her  views.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  had  employed 
two  years  with  remarkable  industry  in  behalf  of 
others,  considering  that  she  had  not  a  small 
family  of  her  own.  While  she  was  understood 
to  be  anxious  for  the  general  spiritual  welfare 
of  the  large  circle  of  her  intimate  friends,  she 
was  held  by  all  in  high  esteem  for  godliness. 

Her  earnest  dissuasives  to  them  against  trust- 
ing to  an  outside  righteousness,  to  the  tokens  of 
piety  set  forth  in  deeds  and  virtues,  which  was 
only  confiding  in  a  "  covenant  of  works,"  were 
well  received ;  and  she  was  understood  as    only 

*  Winthrop's  Journal,  Vol.  1.  p.  200. 
VOL.    VI.  13 


194  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

enforcing  the  appeals  of  the  ministers  when  she 
recommended  an  entire  reliance  upon  the  "  cov- 
enant of  grace,"  the  free,  unpurchased  witness  of 
the  Spirit,  communicated  from  Christ  to  the 
heart  of  the  believer.  So  far  she  had  love  from 
many,  approval  from  most,  and  credit  from  all. 
She  was  soon  understood,  however,  to  point  very 
significantly  to  examples  of  those  who  trusted  in 
the  one  or  the  other  of  these  two  covenants,  and 
these  examples  were  chosen  not  from  the  letters 
of  the  alphabet,  nor  from  the  world  at  large,  but 
from  the  church  communion  and  from  the  min- 
isters. She  criticised  characters  and  sermons, 
and  went  to  hear  that  she  might  afterwards 
judge,  approving  or  condemning. 

The  fact,  that  Mrs.  Hutchinson  confined  her 
efforts  and  gifts  almost  entirely  to  females,  by 
no  means  proves  that  she  was  indifferent  about 
making  converts  from  the  other  sex.  On  the 
contrary,  she  may  have  exercised  her  wisdom  in 
choosing  the  method  best  adapted  to  move  the 
whole  community  with  the  most  effect.  Nearly 
the  whole  of  the  Lord's  day  was  of  course  de- 
voted to  the  public  exercises.  There  was  a 
meeting  also  on  Saturday  evening,  at  which 
women  were  present,  and  they  mingled  with  the 
numerous  assemblies  for  constituting  churches, 
and  for  ordaining  ministers  and  elders.  There 
were,  however,  meetings  of  the  brethren  for  re- 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  195 

ligious  discourse,  from  which  women  were  ex- 
cluded. Mrs.  Hutchmson  thought  she  was  sup- 
plying a  deficiency,  when  she  instituted  a  meet- 
ing for  her  own  sex.  This  enterprise  of  hers 
met  with  favor,  rather  than  with  disapprobation, 
at  first.  From  fifty  to  eighty,  and  even  one 
hundred,  females  met  at  her  house,  listening  with 
devoted  interest  to  her  more  than  metaphysical 
distinctions  of  the  two  covenants.  For  one  pe- 
riod she  held  two  such  meetings  weekly,  and 
the  nominal  purpose  of  them  was  for  the  repe- 
tition and  the  impression  of  the  sermons  deliv- 
ered by  Mr.  Cotton  on  Sunday,  and  at  his 
Thursday  lecture.  His  sermons  met  with  her 
full  approval,  as  did  also  those  of  her  brother, 
Reverend  John  Wheelwright,  who  had  left  his 
university  honors  and  his  ministry  in  London, 
to  share  the  lot  of  the  exiles.  But  the  sermons 
of  the  other  ministers  in  the  Bay,  who  were 
occasionally  heard  in  Boston,  received  more  or 
less  of  censure  from  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  At  any 
rate,  she  found  in  the  sermons,  which  she  crit- 
icised, examples  looking  towards  the  two  differ- 
ent covenants. 

After  a  careful  perusal  of  the  whole  ensuing 
controversy,  a  reader  finds  himself  possessed  of 
a  moderately  clear  idea  of  the  matter  at  issue, 
though  the  technical  phrases  and  the  wire-drawn 
distinctions  of  polemics  are  freely  used.     Yet  it 


196  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

is  not  easy  to  convey  in  few  words  a  fair  rep- 
resentation of  the  controversy,  without  attempt- 
ing to  define  the  great  points  on  which  it  de- 
pended. 

Antinomianism  and  Familism  are  words  ex- 
pressing opinions,  which  were  much  dreaded  of 
old  in  Massachusetts,  and  it  was  under  these 
two  forms  of  pestilential  heresy  that  the  opinions 
of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  were  not  unjustly  classed. 
The  Antinomians,  as  a  sect,  had  brought  them- 
selves into  public  notice  in  Germany  about  a 
century  before  this  time  ;  though  they  in  fact 
only  revived,  with  local  and  circumstantial  va- 
riances, the  anti-Judaizing  party  of  the  first  cen- 
tury of  the  Christian  church.  The  sect  appeared 
in  England,  with  a  hundred  other  sects,  as  pre- 
liminaries to  the  Commonwealth.  The  real  idea 
or  sentiment,  which  gave  life  to  the  sect,  is  ex- 
pressed in  its  name,  (opposition  to  legalism  :) 
though  this  was  only  the  negative  which  corre- 
sponded to  the  positive  point,  exaltation  of  the 
Gospel.  The  real  intention  and  object  of  its 
members  were,  not  to  discountenance  good  works, 
but  to  put  them  into  their  right  place,  as  the 
necessary  fruits  of  piety,  not  its  proofs  ;  to  se- 
cure a  state  of  the  heart,  which  would  make  evi- 
dence of  holiness,  rather  than  a  form  of  life, 
which  might  only  assume  the  show  of  it.  They 
preached  repentance  and  holiness  from  the  cov- 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  197 

enant  of  Christ,  not  from  the  decalogue  and  the 
Law  of  Moses.  They  taught  that  the  Gospel 
has  superseded  the   Law. 

Now,  however  clearly  the  distinction  here 
drawn  may  have  been  defined  in  the  mind  of 
John  Agricola,  the  recognized  foreign  leader  of 
the  Antinomian  sect,  it  is  easy  to  see  to  what 
imputations  his  views  would  be  liable,  and  how 
readily  and  how  grossly  professed  disciples,  as 
well  as  enemies  of  the  sect,  might  pervert  them. 
This  sect,  like  most  other  sects,  suffered  in  pub- 
lic repute  by  having  inferences  drawn  from  its 
tenets ;  by  having  its  negative  rather  than  its  pos- 
itive opinions  brought  into  notice ;  and  by  serving 
as  a  sanctuary  for  unscrupulous  and  outrageous 
pretenders  to  its  protection.  The  distinction  just 
stated  was  very  soon  lost  sight  of.  Antinomian- 
ism  came  to  signify  a  doctrine,  which  superseded 
the  necessity  of  good  works,  which  taught  that 
virtue  did  not  promote,  nor  vice  hinder,  salva- 
tion ;  that  the  commission  of  sin  would  not  affect 
the  eternal  state  of  a  believer  ;  indeed,  that 
nothing  which  a  believer  might  do  could  be  sin. 

Familism  defined  another  sect,  of  German  ori- 
gin, which  likewise  found  an  ancestry  in  the 
first  Christian  age,  and  which  was  imported  into 
England  at  a  time  prolific  of  religious  vaga- 
ries and  fancies.  The  Familists,  or  "Family  of 
Love,"  maintained  that  the  deep  and  all-absorb- 


198  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

ing  feeling  of  divine  love  within  the  breast  was 
the  very  essence  of  religion,  the  bond  of  union 
between  believers,  and  between  them  and  God. 
They  held  that  all  opinions,  doctrines,  forms, 
and  modes,  are  but  of  trifling  consequence  com- 
pared with  this,  and  that  it  was  a  matter  of 
perfect  indifference  what  were  the  sentiments  of 
professed  Christians,  if  their  hearts  burned  with 
the  pure  flame  of  love.  The  oil  which  was  to 
feed  that  flame,  the  offices,  methods,  and  efforts 
for  keeping  alive  the  spirit  of  piety,  were  thus 
most  strangely  disesteemed,  and  most  unphilo- 
sophically  nullified.  The  disciples  of  this  creed 
seem  to  have  realized  the  description  of  the  five 
unwise  virgins  in  the  parable,  carrying  lamps, 
but  forgetting  the  oil,  which,  when  consumed, 
needed  replenishing.  The  inevitable  abuses  of 
such  a  creed  are  obvious. 

Even  with  the  best  and  purest  disciples  of 
both  these  sects,  the  doctrine  of  "  immediate 
revelations,"  either  through  the  forcing  home  to 
the  convictions  of  some  sentiment  or  example 
from  the  Scriptures,  or  wholly  independent  of 
the  Scriptures,  was  acceptable.  An  "immediate 
revelation  "  does,  in  fact,  signify  an  illumination 
brought  about  without  the  agency  of  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  and  the  belief  of  such  a  favor  enjoyed, 
as  well  as  the  pretence  to  it,  could  not  fail  to 
be   a   fruitful   source    of  irregularity  and  fanati- 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  199 

cism.  The  outrages,  which  had  been  perpetrated 
on  the  continent  of  Europe  by  some  who  as- 
sumed the  names  of  these  sects,  and  especially 
the  recent  frenzies  of  the  Anabaptists  at  Mun- 
ster,  exceedingly  alarmed  the  colonists  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  they  felt  it  to  be  a  matter  of 
life  and  death  for  them  to  guard  against  the 
first  advances  of  such  heresies  among  themselves. 

Such  were  the  baneful  and  dreaded  corrup- 
tions of  faith,  with  which  the  views  expressed  by 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  were  at  once  identified  by  those 
most  in  alarm  concerning  them.  Of  the  two 
chief  points  above  stated  in  the  words  of  Win- 
throp,  one,  as  we  shall  see,  was  soon  put  at  rest, 
and  the  subsequent  controversy  turned  upon  the 
other  point,  with  its  inferences,  namely,  upon 
sanctification  as  being  or  as  not  being  an  evi- 
dence of  justification.  In  other  words,  the  great 
question  was,  whether  a  life,  witnessing  moral  and 
religious  obedience  and  holiness  before  men,  is 
or  is  not  evidence  that  an  individual  is  in  a 
justified  or  accepted  state  before  God. 

Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  understood  to  maintain 
the  negative  on  this  question  ;  that  is,  she  was 
regarded  as  affirming,  that  a  state  in  which  man 
is  justified  before  God  precedes  and  is  independ- 
ent of  his  obedience  of  the  law  of  holiness. 
The  attempt  to  prove,  or  to  find  a  ground  of 
confidence  for,  our  justification  by  means  of  out- 


200  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

ward  sanctification,  she  pronounced  to  be  a  walk- 
ing by  a  covenant  of  works  ;  she  looked  to  a 
far  higher  covenant,  that  of  grace.  The  mo- 
ment this  distinction  is  stated,  we  instinctively 
perceive  that  it  could  not  fail  to  bring  into  dis- 
credit the  formal  and  methodical  observances  of 
the  scrupulous  forefathers  of  New  England.  The 
outward  manifestations  of  piety  were  then  much 
regarded,  and  stringently  enforced ;  perhaps  their 
importance  was  exaggerated ;  they  certainly  were 
open  to  the  charge  of  too  much  resembling  dis- 
play ;  for  not  only  was  a  grave  and  reverent 
bearing  expected,  but  austerity  in  looks,  and 
sanctimoniousness  in  dress  and  phrase,  were  con- 
sidered all-essential. 

Political  influences  and  jealousies  mingled  in 
the  strife  from  its  commencement.  Henry  Vane, 
son  and  heir  of  Sir  Henry  Vane,  a  privy  coun- 
cillor, arrived  in  Boston,  October  6th,  1635, 
and,  as  appears  by  the  records  of  the  First 
Church,  was  admitted  a  member  in  less  than  a 
month  afterwards,  ("  1st  of  9th  month.")  He 
took  the  freeman's  oath  on  the  3d  of  March  fol- 
lowing.* From  the  hour  of  his  arrival,  he  was 
unwisely  and  undeservedly  exalted  into  a  rival 
with  the  well-proved  and  judicious  Winthrop. 
Vane    was    but    twenty-four    years    of   age,    and 

*  Court  Records,  Vol.  I.,  under  date. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  201 

though  of  sincere  purposes  and  honest  impulses, 
he  was  far  from  possessing  at  that  time  the 
wisdom,  which  Milton's  sonnet  afterwards  attrib- 
uted to  him.  He  was  esteemed  and  patronized 
by  Lord  Say  and  Seal,  the  fast  friend  of  the 
colony ;  and  this  was  a  high  recommendation  in 
his  favor. 

But  his  chief  claim  to  the  enthusiastic  regard 
and  the  almost  idolatrous  affection  in  which  he 
was  held,  was  found  in  his  puritanical  predilec- 
tions. In  early  youth,  he  turned  from  the  fol- 
lies and  the  gayeties  of  the  life  to  which  he 
was  born,  and  was  gradually  led  into  the  ways 
of  a  mystical  if  not  of  a  fanatical  pietism.  With 
noble  and  generous  qualities  of  heart,  and  with 
spotless  purity  of  soul,  he  nevertheless  lacked 
a  well-poised  judgment  and  the  calm  penetra- 
tion which  looks  at  the  bearings  as  well  as  at 
the  profundity  of  truth.  On  his  return  to  Eng- 
land from  a  continental  tour,  he  clipped  the 
locks  which  signified  the  young  Cavalier,  and 
gave  hope  that  he  would  even  reduce  his  hair 
to  the  puritan  standard.  It  was  with  grief,  that 
his  father  and  his  royal  master  heard  of  the 
alienation  of  young  Vane  from  church  and  state 
attractions.  That  master,  already  looking  out 
upon  the  clouds  which  soon  after  gathered  the 
tempest  that  wrecked  his  kingly  fortune  and  life, 
could  not  but  regard  each  instance  of  such  alien- 


202  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

ation  as  ominous  of  what  was  to  follow.  By 
his  advice,  the  piety-stricken  youth  was  allowed 
to  visit  the  plantations  in  New  England,  with 
the  hope  that  experience  would  wean  him  from 
his  offensive  tendencies. 

On  May  25th,  1636,  Vane  was  elected  Gov- 
ernor of  Massachusetts  by  the  General  Court, 
and  after  so  brief  a  sojourn  as  made  it  impossi- 
ble that  he  should  know  the  spirit  and  the  po- 
sition of  those  over  whom,  in  all  his  immaturity 
of  judgment,  he  was  placed,  by  a  haste  and  zeal 
which  were  not  wise.  Not  only  was  he  thus 
elected  to  the  highest  office,  but  the  honor  was 
accompanied  by  unusual  demonstrations  of  pop- 
ular interest,  and  by  the  discharge  of  volleys  from 
all  the  ships  in  the  bay.  It  will  be  seen  that 
the  ensuing  difficulties  were  aggravated  by  this 
hasty  measure  ;  for  Vane  joined  with  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson, and  his  fall  was  identified  with  hers. 

The  Reverend  John  Wheelwright,  brother  or 
brother-in-law  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  shared  her 
sufferings,  and  was,  in  fact,  as  prominent  a  suf- 
ferer as  herself.  He  had  been  a  clergyman  and 
a  Non-Conformist  minister  in  England,  and,  with 
his  wife  Mary,  was  admitted  to  the  Boston  church, 
June  12th,  1636. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things,  and  the  timid- 
ity about  new  opinions,  when  public  attention 
was  drawn  to  Mrs.  Hutchinson.     The  discovery 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  203 

was  like  the  discovery  of  a  conflagration,  which 
has  kindled  at  night  and  behind  a  wall.  It 
may  well  be  inferred  that  her  weekly  lectures 
were  very  attractive,  in  the  absence  of  all  ge- 
nial social  gatherings.  She  possessed  a  wonder- 
ful memory,  and  had  no  slight  ability  both  for 
generalization  and  abstraction.  The  textual  com- 
position and  the  mechanical  arrangement  of  the 
sermons  of  that  day,  facilitated  their  criticism  at 
her  meetings,  and  notes  were  taken  very  gener- 
ally. People  from  the  adjoining  towns  heard  of 
the  meetings,  and  it  was  but  natural  that  some 
women,  not  of  the  Boston  church,  should  soon 
find  a  way  to  them.  Great  life  and  interest  were 
imparted  by  the  perfect  freedom  of  remark,  of 
objecting  and  of  questioning,  which  was  allowed. 
It  would  have  been  very  strange,  if  her  visitors 
had  not  been  intensely  engaged  in  this  occupa- 
tion, which,  considering  the  circumstances,  was 
so  fascinating ;  and  it  would  have  been  more 
than  strange,  if  heresies  and  scandals  had  not 
been  conceived  at  those  meetings. 

The  character  and  abilities  of  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son, "  her  profitable  and  sober  carriage,"  were 
held  in  such  esteem,  that  it  required  no  little 
independence  and  self-assurance  on  the  part  of 
any  one  to  send  a  glance  of  scrutiny  into  her 
assemblies,  or  to  bring  into  question  the  whole- 
someness  of  their  repasts.      Peace  reigned  long 


204  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

enough  to  allow  the  leaven  to  work  its  way ; 
and  when  the  eyes  of  magistrates  and  ministers 
were  opened,  they  saw  at  once  the  whole  evil, 
which  was  then  past  their  power  to  redress, 
though  they  set  about  it  with   all  their  zeal. 

All  sorts  of  persons  were  found  to  have  been 
attracted  by  her  spells,  and  involved  in  her  ten- 
ets. Cotton  and  Wheelwright  among  the  min- 
isters ;  Vane  the  Governor,  with  Dummer  and 
Coddington,  among  the  magistrates  ;  many  of  the 
deputies  of  the  towns  who  had  frequented  Bos- 
ton, with  large  numbers  of  the  military  and  the 
yeomanry,  were  her  abettors  or  disciples.  The 
watchwords  of  the  new  party  were  heard  at  town 
meetings,  at  trainings,  in  public  worship,  in  family 
prayers,  in  the  blessing  before  meat,  and  in  the 
grace  after  meat.  Children  asked  each  other 
whether  their  parents  stood  respectively  for  the 
covenant  of  grace,  or  for  the  covenant  of  works. 
Mr.  Welde  says,  "  And  now  was  there  no  speech 
so  much  in  use,  as  of  vilifying  sanctification,  and 
all  for  advancing  Christ  and  free  grace,  and  the 
whole  pedigree  of  the  covenant  of  works  was  set 
forth  with  all  its  complements,  beginning  at 
Cain."  Again,  the  same  writer  says,  "  Now 
the  faithful  ministers  of  Christ  must  have  dung 
cast  on  their  faces,  and  be  no  better  than  legal 
preachers,  Baal's  priests.  Popish    factors,  scribes, 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  205 

Pharisees,  and  opposers  of  Christ  himself."*  Per- 
sonaUties  and  insults  were  largely  employed.  At 
the  close  of  public  worship,  sermons  and  prayers 
were  criticised. 

The  ministers  in  the  colony  were  classified,  and 
the  former  most  approved  signatures  of  piety 
were  seen,  with  the  new  eye,  as  the  mark  of  Cain. 
There  was  a  wandering  of  church  members  from 
their  own  places  of  worship  on  the  Sabbath, 
either  because  their  own  preacher  did  not  edify, 
or  because  another  preacher  did  not,  and  they 
were  set  upon  hearing,  that  they  might  afterwards 
criticise  and  have  matter  for  objection.  Some 
of  the  more  zealous  turned  their  backs  and  left 
the  assemblies,  when  preachers  whom  they  did 
not  wish  to  hear  stood  up  in  the  desk,  or  exer- 
cised from  the  deacon's  seat.  Mrs.  Hutchinson 
set  an  example  for  this  offensive  proceeding, 
by  leaving  the  meeting-house  when  the  pastor 
Wilson  was  to  speak.  Letters  not  compliment- 
ary, but  sometimes  far  from  it,  were  addressed  to 
the  ministers,  questioning  their  doctrine;  and  all 
the  manifold  provocations  of  religious  wrangling, 
with  all  the  exaggerations  of  calumny  to  increase 
them,  began  to  alienate  those  whose  hearts  had 
previously  been  united  by  seemingly  indissoluble 
ties. 

*  Welde's  Short  Storyy  &c.    Preface,  and  p.  32. 


206  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Such  were  the  elements  of  discord  in  Boston. 
Such  elements  could  not  work  in  it,  even  at  this 
da}',  without  strife.  Thus  offensive  in  themselves, 
and  equally  offensive  in  the  mode  of  their  prom- 
ulgation, were  the  opinions  and  the  practices 
which  were  identified  with  Mrs.  Hutchinson. 
Before  any  public  notice  was  taken  of  her  course, 
and  long  before  any  arbitrary  measures  were 
commenced  against  her  party,  all  the  mortifying 
and  estranging  effects  just  mentioned  had  been 
brought  about.  Had  there  been  therefore  no 
public  proceedings  against  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and 
her  friends,  or  had  the  whole  action  against  her 
been  confined  to  the  church  of  which  she  was  a 
member,  even  then  the  colony  would  not  have 
escaped  a  severe  agitation.  Thus  it  will  not  do 
to  charge  upon  the  interference  of  the  public 
authorities  the  deplorable  results,  which  had  al- 
ready occurred  ;  before  they  interfered,  they  had 
borne  much  more  than  they  could  have  been 
expected  to  bear  at  all  without  uneasiness. 

One  other  particular  should  be  noted,  to  bring 
us  into  the  position  for  fair  judgment  correspond- 
ing to  that  which  the  opponents  of  the  new  opin- 
ions occupied.  From  the  very  beginning  of  the 
controversy,  its  political  and  civil  bearings  and 
its  seditious  tendencies  were  foreseen.  Church 
and  state  were  even  more  one  at  that  time  in 
New  England,  than  in  the  mother  country.     The 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  207 

Massachusetts  authorities  stood  in  constant  dread 
about  their  charter,  a  surrender  of  which  was 
repeatedly  and  imperiously  demanded  of  them. 
No  one  thing  endangered  their  possession  of  the 
charter  so  much,  as  representations  made  to  the 
throne  and  council  of  any  thing  like  riotous  or 
disorderly  proceedings  in  the  colony ;  and  there 
were   enough   to  carry  such  reports. 

The  colonists  had  likewise  a  new  and  a  strange 
way  of  ecclesiastical  polity  to  keep  in  credit. 
They  were  nervously  sensitive  to  the  epithet  of 
Brownists  or  Separatists,  and  aimed  at  simple 
Congregationalism,  which  was  a  middle  way  be- 
tween Independency  and  Presbyterianism.  They 
were  inquired  of,  and  impugned,  for  their  church 
method,  even  by  those  who  were  equally  alienated 
with  themselves  from  the  prelacy  and  formalism 
of  the  English  Establishment.  Every  instance  of 
disorder,  to  which  their  system  admitted  facilities, 
was  circulated  in  England  with  a  glad  sorrow,  so 
that  their  anxiety  and  pride,  as  well  as  their  fear 
of  heresy,  were  enlisted  to  keep  out  all  eccentric 
and  mischievous  characters  and  opinioris. 

Many  stories  to  their  discredit  had  already 
been  told  on  the  other  side  of  the  water  ;  and  in 
this  present  controversy,  it  is  evident  that  they 
were  actuated  to  a  great  degree  by  a  desire  to 
keep  themselves  in  good  esteem  with  some,  and 
to  retrieve  their  suffering  reputation  with  others 


203  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

at  home.  They  had  been  reported  there,  without 
any  allowance  on  the  side  of  charity,  for  each  of 
their  acts  of  severity ;  and  the  story  of  the  Browns, 
of  Sir  Christopher  Gardiner,  of  Roger  Williams, 
and  other  aggrieved  persons,  lost  nothing  by  trans- 
mission. It  was  essential  to  the  interests  of  the 
Massachusetts  colony  to  keep  oft'  the  reproach 
of  being  composed  of  all  sorts  of  consciences. 
They  must  silence  this  charge,  already  whispered, 
to  gain  the  double  end  of  being  left  in  peace  by 
the  foreign  authorities,  and  to  draw  over  worthy 
and  profitable  settlers. 

The  following  extract  from  the  eccentric  Ward, 
of  Ipswich,  will  show  that  the  importance  of  this 
consideration  has  not  been  exaggerated.  "  Such 
as  have  given  or  taken  any  unfriendly  reports  of 
us  New  English  should  do  well  to  recollect  them- 
selves. We  have  been  reputed  a  colluvies  of 
wild  Opinionists,  swarmed  into  a  remote  wilder- 
ness to  find  elbow-room  for  our  fanatic  doctrines 
and  practices.  I  trust  our  diligence  past,  and 
constant  sedulity  against  such  persons  and  cour- 
ses, will  plead  better  things  for  us.  I  dare  take 
upon  me  to  be  the  herald  of  New  England  so  far 
as  to  proclaim  to  the  world,  in  the  name  of  our 
colony,  that  all  Familists,  Antinomians,  Anabap- 
tists, and  other  enthusiasts,  shall  have  free  liberty 
to  keep  away  from    us,  and    such  as  will  come, 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  209 

to  be  gone   as   fast  as  they  can,  the  sooner  the 
better."  * 

Any  one  who  will  read  the  by  no  means 
wearisome  tractate  of  Robert  Baylie,  the  Scotch 
Presbyterian,  entitled  "  A  Dissuasive  from  the 
Errors  of  the  Times,"  will  appreciate  the  force 
of  these  last  suggestions.  In  that  volume,  the 
dissensions  among  the  Brownists  and  Separa- 
tists at  Arnheim,  Rotterdam,  Amsterdam,  and 
London,  are  set  down  without  any  loss  in  the 
method  of  their  representation.  It  was  published 
just  after  the  troubles  with  Mrs.  Hutchinson, 
which  form  some  of  the  aggravations  of  the 
volume  ;  but  its  contents  were  matters  of  present 
experience  and  of  earlier  warning  in  Massa- 
chusetts, whose  proceedings  in  her  case  we  are 
now   prepared   to  review. 

*  The  Simple  Cobler  of  Agawam  in  America.  London ; 
1647.  p.  3. 

VOL.    VI.  14 


^10  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY 


CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Excitement  in  Boston.  —  Means  taken  to 
allay  it.  —  Reverend  John  Cotton  and  the  Con- 
ference of  Ministers.  —  Motion  in  the  Boston 
Church  to  settle  Mr.  Wheelwright,  opposed  by 
Deputy-Governor  Winthrop.  —  Offence  taken. 
—  Disputation  in  Writing.  —  Governor  Vane's 
Proceedings.  —  The   Court  consults  the  Elders 


on    the    Controversy.  —  Hugh    Peters.  —  Mi 
Wilson's  Speech.  —  Discord  and  Contention. 


On  the  first  disclosure  of  the  influence  which 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  had  already  wrought,  there  was 
much  of  fair  and  comparatively  of  judicious 
effort  used  to  win  her  and  her  followers  from 
their  opinions,  before  recourse  was  had  to  arbi- 
trary and  compulsory  measures.  There  were 
many  private  interviews  between  the  prominent 
parties,  and  numerous  conferences  in  the  public 
assemblies.  It  was  honestly  supposed,  at  first, 
that  the  differences  would  not  grow  to  dissen- 
sions. Wisdom  and  charity  together,  or  a  little 
increase  of  either  at  the  beginning,  would  have 
softened  and  perhaps  averted  the  catastrophe. 
The  agitation  began  in  the  Boston  church,  and 
to  that  it  would  doubtless  have  been  confined  in 
its  most  exciting  features,  but  that,  in  the  spirit 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  211 

of  a  self-imposed  obligation,  which  we  might 
judge  uncharitably  did  we  call  it  intermeddling, 
the  other  ministers  of  the  colony,  assembling  on 
occasion  of  the  General  Court  in  October,  1636, 
took  up  the  matter  with  much  warmth  of  zeal. 

The  Reverend  John  Cotton,  the  teacher,  was 
from  the  first  implicated  on  the  side  of  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  and  her  supporters.  Whether  any 
adroit  policy  on  her  part  exaggerated  or  mis- 
construed his  apparent  and  unsuspecting  per- 
sonal regard ;  whether  she  originally  derived  her 
leading  views  from  him,  and  erred  by  departing 
from  the  qualifications  they  received  from  his 
lips ;  whether  she  availed  herself  of  his  high 
standing,  for  countenance  and  protection ;  wheth-. 
er  he  at  first  sympathized  with  her,  was  pleased 
with  her  approval,  and  subsequently  deserted  her 
from  timidity,  from  pliancy,  or  from  changed 
convictions  ;  these  are  questions  which  will  pre- 
sent themselves  as  alike  interesting  and  material 
by  and  by.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  herself,  her  friends,  and  her  enemies, 
presumed,  at  the  beginning,  that  the  sympathy  of 
the  honored  teacher  was  on  her  side.  Her  ad- 
herents were  wont  to  say,  that  they  held  only 
what  Mr.  Cotton  held.  He  was  even  their  idol ; 
and  it  may  be  —  let  the  candor  of  history  decide 
—  that  the  other  ministers  were  not  wholly  above 
being  influenced  by  the  comparisons  which  she 


212  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

was  known  to  draw.  Cotton's  subsequent  ac- 
count of  his  relation  to  the  obnoxious  party  was, 
that  in  their  earlier  disclosures  of  opinion  they 
cautiously  qualified  their  views,  so  as  to  keep 
them  in  harmony  with  his  own ;  but  that,  as  they 
advanced  in  numbers  and  boldness,  they  dis- 
sembled, practised  reserve  before  some  only  to 
secure  a  very  free  license  before  others,  and 
made  him,  in  his  ignorance,  though  to  his  great 
discredit,  "  the  stalking-horse "  of  their  heresies 
and   vagaries. 

The  report  had  gone  abroad  that  the  ministers 
out  of  Boston  preached  a  covenant  of  works. 
This  offensive  charge,  made  more  odious,  because, 
as  above  suggested,  it  was  aggravated  by  a  com- 
parison, they  regarded  as  a  sufficient  warrant  for 
seeking,  by  a  private  conference  with  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson and  Mr.  Wheelwright,  to  acquaint  them- 
selves with  the  new  opinions.  The  intent  of  the 
ministers  was,  if  they  could  possess  the  ground,  to 
warn  or  admonish  the  Boston  church  concerning 
their  diseased  members,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
infection  from  spreading  over  the  other  churches. 
Cotton,  too,  stood  on  the  defensive.  The  result 
of  this  conference  was,  that  Cotton  and  Wheel- 
wright satisfied  the  ministers  by  agreeing,  as  they 
alleged  they  had  preached,  "  that  sanctification 
did  help  to  evidence  justification  ;  "  that  is,  that 
outward  boUness  was,  to  a  degree,   testimony  to 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  213 

a  righteous  state  within.  As  to  the  other  princi- 
pal point  in  agitation,  it  appeared  that,  while  Mr. 
Cotton  consented  with  other  ministers  to  *'  the 
indwelhng  of  the  person  of  the  Holy  Ghost," 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  Wheelwright  held  what 
amounted  to  a  personal  union  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
with  the  believer. 

The  next  measure  tending  to  strife,  was  a 
movement  on  the  part  of  members  of  the  Boston 
church,  who  had  become  fascinated  by  the  new 
dispensation  of  grace,  to  call  Wheelwright  as  their 
teacher.  This  measure  had  been  proposed  to 
the  church  on  Sunday,  October  23d,  1636,  and 
the  proposition  was  brought  up  for  action  on  the 
following  Sunday.  Throughout  the  whole  agita- 
tion in  that  church,  the  pastor,  Wilson,  and  its 
most  honored  member,  John  Winthrop,  led  and 
guided  the  opposition  to  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and 
her  brother.  Indeed,  when  the  strife  was  at  the 
highest,  there  were  only  five  in  that  whole  com- 
munion who  kept  upon  the  side  of  the  other  min- 
isters and  churches  of  the  Bay.  In  the  measure 
now  proposed,  Wilson  was  of  course  restrained 
to  silence,  and  he  left  to  Winthrop  the  difficult 
task  of  opposing  a  hasty  popular  impulse.  Win- 
throp was  faithful  and  wise.  He  met  the  meas- 
ure with  decided  objections.  He  urged,  that 
the  church  was  already  well  supplied  with  minis- 
ters whose  hearts,  minds,  and  spirits  the  members 


214  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

knew ;  whose  prayers,  counsels,  and  labors  had 
been  blessed.  He  said,  that,  thus  supplied,  there 
was  no  need  of  putting  the  peace  of  the  churcli 
at  hazard,  as  would  be  done  by  calling  one  whose 
spirit  they  did  not  know,  and  who  in  judgment 
did  in  fact  seem  to  differ. 

Winthrop  could  not  well  say  less  than  this ; 
for  Wheelwright  had  kept  a  marked  reserve  and 
distance  from  the  intimacy  of  the  other  ministers. 
The  devout  and  single-handed  opponent  of  the 
excited  inclinations  of  those  whom  he  addressed, 
proceeded  to  allege  two  objectionable  sentiments, 
which  Wheelwright  had  uttered  in  a  sermon ; 
namely,  "  that  a  believer  was  more  than  a  crea- 
ture," and  "that  the  person  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  a  believer  were  united."  Governor  Vane 
replied  by  expressing  his  wonder  at  Winthrop's 
remarks,  as  Mr.  Cotton  had  but  lately  uttered 
his  approval  of  Wheelwright's  doctrines.  Mr. 
Cotton  averred  that  he  did  not  remember  the 
first  of  the  objectionable  statements,  and  desired 
WheeKvright  to  explain  what  he  meant.  Wheel- 
wright allowed  he  had  uttered  them,  and  referred 
to  the  occasion.  An  attempt  being  made  for  a 
reconciliation,  Mr.  Winthrop  candidly  said,  that 
though  he  and  Wheelwright  might  perhaps  come 
to  an  agreement,  and  though  he  held  in  reverence 
the  godliness  and  abilities  of  the  candidate,  so 
that,  if  occasion    called,  he  could  be  content  to 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  215 

live  under  his  ministry,  ''  yet,  seeing  he  was  apt  to 
raise  doubtful  disputations,  he  could  not  consent 
to  choose  him  to  that  place."  *  The  church  then 
gave  over  the  purpose,  that  Wheelwright  might 
be  called  to  a  new  church  about  to  be  gathered 
at  Mount  Wollaston,  now  Braintree. 

Winthrop's  opposition,  however,  gave  offence, 
which  spent  itself  in  open  censure  of  his  remarks 
in  the  congregation.  With  the  dignified  sincerity 
and  frankness  which  characterized  him,  he  took 
the  earliest  opportunity,  being  the  next  day,  to  ex- 
plain and  justify  himself.  He  was  censured  for 
the  publicity  of  his  remarks,  which,  it  was  said, 
ought  at  least  to  have  been  preceded  by  some 
private  dealing  with  Wheelwright.  He  acknowl- 
edged this  error,  but  affirmed  that  when  he  heard 
the  objectionable  sentiments,  they  occurred  in  a 
discourse  the  doctrine  of  which  was  sound,  and 
therefore  supposed  the  words  were  spoken  figura- 
tively ;  but  he  had  since  learned  that  Wheelwright 
held  the  sentiments  literally,  and  laid  stress  upon 
them.  To  the  charge  of  having  spoken  with 
bitterness,  he  replied  by  alleging  his  w^rm  tem- 
perament, which  made  him  earnest  in  serious 
things,  though  still  he  loved  Wheelwright,  and 
honored  the  gifts  and  graces  of  God  in  him. 
The    third    and    severest    censure    against    this 

*  Winthrop,  Vol.  I.  p.  202. 


216  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

faithful  defendant  was,  that  he  had  attributed  to 
Wheelwright  heresies  which  he  did  not  entertain. 

To  this  he  replied  that  he  had  since  spoken 
with  the  brother,  who  denied  entertaining  the 
two  opinions  which  had  been  specified.  Here 
we  may  presume  to  think,  that  it  would  have 
been  most  wise  for  Winthrop  to  have  stopped. 
But  he  proceeded  to  show,  by  the  mischievous 
process  of  drawing  inferences,  that  Wheelwright 
did  nevertheless  hold  the  sentiments,  as  they 
followed  from  his  acknowledged  belief  of  a  real, 
that  is,  a  personal  union  of  the  Holy  Ghost  with 
the  believer,  so  that  "a  believer  must  be  more 
than  a  creature,  viz.,  God-man,  even  Christ 
Jesus."  There  is,  said  Winthrop,  a  true  union, 
a  union  of  sympathy  and  relation,  between  hus- 
band and  wife ;  but  as  they  still  remain  a  man 
and  a  woman,  it  is  not  a  personal  union.*  We 
must  allow  that  Winthrop's  logic  was  unexcep- 
tionable as  logic ;  but  he  should  have  known  that 
syllogisms  will  not  always  apply  to  favorite  the- 
ological tenets,  and  that  a  doubtful  disputant  will 
not  always  abide  by  the  views,  which  may  be 
shown  ''  by  necessary  consequence "  to  follow 
from  his  expressed  opinions. 

Winthrop  concluded  by  submitting  to  the 
church  to  judge  about  the  doctrine,  hoping  that 

*  Winthrop,  Vol.  1.  p.  203. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  217 

Cotton  would  clear  it  up,  as  in  good  measure  he 
had  done.  He  likewise  affectionately  requested 
of  Wheelwright,  that  as  estrangement  and  vari- 
ance grew  so  readily  and  rankly  from  the  use  of 
words,  which  tended  to  doubtful  disputation,  "and 
had  no  footing  in  Scripture,  nor  had  been  in  use 
in  the  purest  churches  for  three  hundred  years 
after  Christ,"  but  were  of  human  invention,  they 
might  be  forborne.  Winthrop  referred  to  the 
phrases,  "  person  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  "  real 
union;"  and  though  he  said  that  he  did  not  in- 
tend to  dispute  the  matter,  as  having  no  calling  to 
It,  "  yet,  if  any  brother  desired  to  see  what  light 
he  walked  by,  he  would  be  ready  to  impart  it 
to  him."  No  reply  was  made,  and  Winthrop 
soon  after  wrote  out  his  views  on  the  subject, 
fortified  with  Scripture,  and  sent  them  to  Mr. 
Cotton.  No  man  could  do  the  work  better 
than  he. 

A  disputation  in  writing  followed.  The  ques- 
tion at  issue  was  too  alluring  to  both  parties 
alike,  and  neither  could  probably  have  been  put 
to  silence  upon  it  at  the  cost  of  life.  The 
agreeable  maxim  of  our  day,  that  evil  has  its 
mission  as  well  as  good,  leads  us  to  hope  that 
this  disputation  afforded  a  certain  wilderness 
joy  to  the  worn  exiles  of  Christ.  It  was  in  the 
midst  of  the  alarms  caused  by  the  Pequots ;  and 
we  may  be  sure  that  those  of  the  Pilgrims,  who 


218  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

were  then  fighting  with  carnal  weapons,  had  the 
easiest  and  probably  the  less  passionate  war- 
fare. The  disputation  was  between  Governor 
Vane,  Mr.  Cotton,  and  Mr.  Wheelwright,  of  the 
one  party,  and  Deputy-Governor  Winthrop  and 
Mr.  Wilson,  on  the  other.  Winthrop  judiciously 
labored  to  keep  out  from  use  "  terms  of  human 
invention,"  and  to  confine  certain  other  terms 
to  their  scriptural  use ;  then  the  indwelling  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  would  be  rightly  understood  in 
the  same  way  as  the  indwelling  of  the  Father 
and  the  Son.  But  whether  this  indwelling  was 
by  gifts  and  power  only,  or  by  any  other  manner 
of  presence,  as  the  Scripture  did  not  explain, 
*'it  was  earnestly  desired  that  the  word  person 
might  be  forborne."  Whether  this  disputation 
was  thought  to  promise  an  end  to  strife,  or  to 
risk  an  increase  of  it,  it  is  difficult  to  say ;  but 
though  it  seems  to  have  been  amicably  con- 
ducted, the  very  fact  that  it  was  confined  to  a 
few  made  all  more  excited  about  the  matter. 

A  circumstance  now  occurred,  which,  while 
somewhat  mysterious  and  unexplained  in  its 
character,  doubtless  contributed  much  towards 
deepening  in  contention  the  party  lines,  which 
disputations  and  conferences  had  already  defined. 
Governor  Vane  had  privately  made  known  to 
the  council,  that  it  was  necessary  for  him,  for 
reasons  of  a  private  nature,  to  return  to  England. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  219 

A  special  Court  was  convened  on  this  account, 
December  7th,  1636,*  when  he  made  known  the 
necessity  of  his  departure,  some  of  the  council 
vouching  for  the  cogency  of  the  reasons,  though 
they  were  not  of  a  nature  to  be  imparted  to  the 
whole  Court.  Time  was  taken  to  consider  the 
matter.  The  next  day,  one  of  the  magistrates 
displayed  much  pathetic  regret  at  the  loss  of 
such  a  governor  at  such  a  time,  when  the  French 
and  Indians  caused  such   alarm. 

Vane  was  affected  by  sympathy  to  tears ;  and, 
being  carried  away  for  a  moment  by  his  feelings, 
he  protested  that,  though  the  reasons  for  his 
departure  vitally  concerned  his  whole  outward 
estate,  yet  he  would  not  leave  at  such  a  crisis, 
did  he  not  foresee  the  inevitable  judgments  of 
God  hanging  over  them  for  their  dissensions, 
while  he  himself  lay  under  the  scandalous  im- 
putation of  being  the  chief  cause  of  them.  He 
thought  it  best,  therefore,  that  he  should  give 
place  for  a  time.  But  the  Court  would  not 
allow  his  departure  on  these  grounds.  Then, 
soon  recalling  his  discretion  and  his  manliness, 
he  insisted  that  his  private  estate  gave  him  cause 
enough  for  departing,  and  excused  his  hasty 
utterance,  as  of  passion,  not  of  judgment.     The 

*  Court  Records,  Vol.  I.,  under  date.  See  also  Win- 
throp,  Vol.  I.  p.  207. 


220  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Court  then  granted  him  liberty  to  go,  though  it 
seems  that  it  was  on  his  promise  to  return,  which, 
however,  he  needed  not  to  redeem.  A  week 
afterwards,  a  representation  was  made  to  the 
Court  that  the  Boston  church  would  not  allow  the 
Governor  to  depart  on  the  reasons  alleged,  and 
he,  as  an  obedient  child  of  the  church,  con- 
sented to  remain. 

On  the  supposition  that  Vane  would  return 
to  England  forthwith,  provision  had  been  made 
for  calling  a  Court  of  Elections  on  the  15th 
of  the  month,  to  supply  the  vacancy;  but  the 
determination  of  Vane  to  abide  by  the  wish  of 
the  church  rendered  a  new  choice  unnecessary, 
and  it  was  quietly  determined  to  retain  him  in 
office.  A  Court  of  Deputies,  however,  had  assem- 
bled without  the  magistrates,  and  they  advanced 
the  controversy  one  step  farther  by  calling  the 
elders  of  the  churches  to  advise  measures  for 
pacifying  the  increasing  and  bitter  contentions. 
Governor  Vane  laid  the  occasion  before  the  min- 
isters in  the  First  Church,  where  the  sessions  of 
the  Court  were  held.  Mr.  Dudley  and  Winthrop 
advised  great  plainness  and  frankness  of  speech, 
that  every  thing  might  be  laid  open.  Vane 
approved  the  advice,  but  showed  some  irritated 
feeling,  because,  without  his  privity,  the  min- 
isters had  already  been  considering  the  matter 
in  a  church  way,  and   had  drawn  out  a  list  of 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  221 

the  points  on  which  Mr.  Cotton  differed,  as 
was  supposed,  from  them,  asking  of  him  expUcit 
answers,  which  he  had  promised. 

Upon  Vane's  expression  of  his  offence  on  this 
account,  the  plain-spoken  and  famous  Hugh 
Peters,  minister  of  Salem,  took  up  the  matter, 
and  told  the  Governor  next  day  that  the  spir- 
its of  the  ministers  were  much  saddened  by 
his  jealousy  of  their  meetings.  Vane  excused 
his  speech  as  sudden  and  mistaken.  Mr.  Peters 
then  went  on,  without  excess  of  deference,  to 
tell  the  Governor  that  before  he  came,  less  than 
two  years  since,  the  churches  were  at  peace. 
He  also  "besought  him  humbly  to  consider  his 
youth,  and  short  experience  of  the  things  of 
God,  and  to  beware  of  peremptory  conclusions, 
which  he  perceived  him  to  be  very  apt  unto." 
Mr.  Peters  significantly  hinted  that,  from  his  ex- 
perience in  the  Low  Countries,  he  had  observed 
that  pride  was  a  principal  cause  of  new  opin- 
ions, and  that  new  notions  lift  up  the  mind, 
while  idleness  likewise  tended  to  the  same  effect. 
Vane  replied,  "  that  the  light  of  the  gospel  brings 
a  sword,  and  the  children  of  the  bondwoman 
would  persecute  those  of  the  freewoman."  * 

This  certainly  must  be  regarded  as  peremp- 
tory, though    it   may  have   been  wholesome  lan- 

*  Wiiithrop,  Vol.  I.  p.  209. 


222  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

guage  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Peters,  who  had  been 
in  the  country  no  longer  than  Vane,  and  was  not 
yet  forty  years  of  age.  Wilson,  the  pastor,  made 
a  speech  which  gave  great  offence  to  the  friends 
of  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  He  bewailed  sadly  the 
condition  of  the  churches,  and  foresaw  irreparable 
breaches  if  the  alienations  were  not  healed,  while 
he  laid  all  the  blame  upon  the  new  opinions. 
This  speech,  together  with  Mr.  Cotton's  sermon 
the  same  day,  at  Thursday  lecture,  and  the 
prophesyings  in  the  meeting-house  after  it,  set 
the  parties  in  open  conflict.  It  appeared  that 
Governor  Vane,  the  magistrates  Coddington  and 
Dummer,  and  the  ministers  Cotton  and  Wheel- 
wright, with  the  large  majority  of  the  Boston 
church,  made  common  cause  widi  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son about  justification.  By  all  these  Mr.  Wilson 
was  severely  censured  for  his  speech  in  the  Court, 
and  the  church  indeed  were  about  to  admonish 
him  ;  but  this  measure  was  prevented  by  Cotton, 

It  is  one  of  the  very  few  alleviations  of  this 
whole  controversy,  that  the  chief  church  of  the 
colony  retained,  until  death  called  them  away, 
the  pastor  and  the  teacher  who  were  thus  at 
first  ranked  on  different  sides,  and  that  they 
never  parted  friendship.  Wilson  vindicated  his 
speech  on  the  ground  that  great  plainness  was 
necessary,  and  had  been  called  for.  He,  how- 
ever, received  very  harsh  treatment  from  former 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  223 

friends,  even  to  insults  and  reproaches,  but  had 
grace  given  him  to  bear  them,  and  even  to  Hsten 
to  a  "  grave  exhortation "  from  his  colleague, 
sustained  chiefly  by  Winthrop.  The  next  day, 
however,  he  preached,  and  had  an  opportunity 
of  presenting  his  side,  which  he  did  with  such 
success,  that  even  Vane  bore  public  testimony 
to  him.  Several  letters,  of  a  friendly,  but  of  a 
very  plain  and  argumentative  character,  passed 
between  Winthrop  and  Cotton,  in  reference  to 
Wilson's  speech,  which  his  colleague  continued 
to  regard  as  objectionable.  These  letters,  by 
Cotton's  permission,  were  shown  to  Wilson. 

While  thus  the  leaders  of  the  controversy, 
perfect  masters  of  the  tactics,  met  in  fair  con- 
flict, a  host  of  absurd  notions  was  brought  into 
light  as  the  alleged  consequences  of  the  new 
views ;  these  notions  bearing  the  more  objec- 
tionable and  alarming  features  of  Antinomianism. 
The  publicity  and  popular  occasions  of  the  dis- 
pute put  the  words  and  passions  of  the  contro- 
versy, without  its  distinctions  and  issues,  into 
the  mouth  of  the  pubUc.  For  there  was  then, 
as  now,  a  public,  whose  voice  in  such  matters  is 
like  the  spray  that  parts  from  the  ocean  wave, 
which  annoys  and  drenches  the  poor  mariners, 
while  it  does  not  help  to  bear  up  or  to  guide  the 
tossed  ship.  Some  even  went  the  whole  length 
of  maintaining,  ''  that  a  man  might  attain  to  any 


224  AxMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

sanctification  in  gifts  and  graces,  and  might  have 
spiritual  and  continual  communion  with  Jesus 
Christ,  and  yet  be  damned."  Certainly,  the  pro- 
spective fate  of  the  "dry  trees,"  if  any  there  were 
in  the  colony,  must  have  been  deplorable  enough, 
if  the  green  trees  were  subject  to  such  a  thorough 
anomaly  of  relation  between  cause  and  effect. 

The  most  bitter  enemy  of  Puritanism  would 
have  desired  no  higher  joy  for  a  prelatical  appetite, 
than  to  have  looked  upon  the  Boston  church  at 
this  moment  of  its  spiritual  desertion.  The  wild- 
est fancies  issued  like  the  forked  tongues  of  other 
than  a  pentecostal  inspiration  from  the  mouths 
of  a  few  men  and  women ;  and  the  meek  piety 
which  mourned  in  silence  waited  to  number  the 
vials,  till  the  opening  of  the  seventh  should  pour 
its  woe  upon  the  enchanted  and  fallen  church 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  the  wilderness.  Revela- 
tions, the  last  dread  scourge  of  fanaticism,  were 
now  to  be  looked  for ;  and  what  might  be  their 
prompting  none  could  know.  But  four  or  five 
of  that  covenanted  company  of  disciples,  who 
should  even  have  prayed  for,  rather  than  con- 
tended about,  the  divine  love  of  the  FamiHstic 
creed,  but  four  or  five  beHeved  as  they  be- 
lieved before. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  225 


CHAPTER   V. 

Mr.    Cotton    examined.  —  A  Day  of  Fasting.  — 
Passengers    for    England.  —  Boston    Church. 

—  The  Question  raised  by  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  — 
Personalities.  —  Conference  of  Ministers.  — 
Greensmith  fned  for  Contempt.  — Mr.  Wheel- 
ivright  proceeded  against. — Judgment  upon  him. 

—  Remonstrance  from  the  Boston  Church. — Tu- 
mult at  the  Court.  —  Winthrop  chosen  Governor. 

—  Conduct  of  Vane  and  his  Friends.  —  Dispu- 
tations.—  Mr.  Wheelwright.  —  A  neiv  Measure 
of  the  Court.  —  Conduct  of  the  Disaffected  to 
Winthrop.  —  Departure  of  Vane. 

Mr.  Cotton  being  still  involved  with  the 
obnoxious  party,  and  being  regarded  as  the  in- 
dividual through  whose  supposed  approval  it  re- 
ceived constant  accessions,  the  ministers  proceed- 
ed to  a  rigid  examination  of  his  views.  Either 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  sought,  or  he  encouraged,  a  very 
close  intimacy.  The  ministers  took  offence  at 
some  opinions  which  he  had  himself  expressed, 
and  at  others  broached  by  members  of  his  church, 
of  whom  he  entertained  a  high  regard,  and  with 
whom  he  was  very  familiar.  They  drew  up  a 
paper,  embracing  sixteen  points  of  inquiry,  to 
which  they   desired   his   full  answers.     To  some 

VOL.    VI.  15 


226  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

of  these  he  replied  to  their  satisfaction,  but  left 
them  still  in  anxiety  about  others.  Copies  of 
these  papers,  being  circulated,  spread  yet  wider 
the  excitement,  and  the  ministers  made  a  re- 
joinder to  his  replies. 

January  20th,  1637,  (N.  S.,)  was  observed  as 
a  public  Fast  throughout  all  the  churches  of  the 
jurisdiction  on  account  of  their  dissensions  and 
the  trouble  with  the  Pequot  Indians.  To  this 
day  of  sad  observance  the  words  of  the  prophet 
of  solemn  things  were  most  signally  applicable. 
It  was  a  "  Fast  for  strife  and  debate."  All  the 
ministers  took  occasion  to  preach  and  pray  on 
the  subject  which  distracted  all  minds.  The 
spirit  of  mfatuation  seems  to  have  seized  alike 
upon  teachers  and  their  flocks.  Mr.  Wheel- 
wright, as  we  shall  soon  see,  was  called  to  ac- 
count for  his  use  of  the  day. 

A  ship  being  about  to  sail  for  England  with 
many  passengers,  early  in  February,  Mr.  Cotton 
took  advantage  of  the  first  Sunday,  the  third  day 
of  that  month,  to  attempt  to  soften  and  relieve 
the  disgraceful  and  melancholy  reports,  which 
he  well  knew  some  of  those  passengers  would 
carry  home  with  them.  As  has  been  already 
hinted,  even  the  most  discreet  of  the  exiles  here 
felt  a  deep  anxiety  about  the  opinions  and  slan- 
ders, which  were  circulated  concerning  the  colony 
in  England.     They  had  reason  now  to  dread  the 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  227 

true  and  uncolored  representation  of  facts,  alike 
as  it  affected  the  good  esteem  of  their  church 
order,  and  as  it  might  decide,  unfavorably  to 
them,  the  intentions  of  worthy  persons  who  med- 
itated a  removal  hither.  Cotton  preached  in  a 
deprecatory  strain,  and  sought,  doubtless  with  a 
feeling  which  must  either  have  choked  or  set  free 
his  eloquence,  to  put  the  best  construction  upon 
the  state  of  things.  He  bid  the  passengers  in- 
form their  brethren,  that  all  the  strife  was  about 
magnifying  the  grace  of  God,  for  which  both 
parties  contended ;  the  one  party  seeking  to  ad- 
vance the  grace  of  God  within  us,  (justification,) 
the  other,  to  advance  the  grace  of  God  towards 
us,  (sanctifi cation.)  Cotton  would  have  them  thus 
encourage  Christians  to  come  over^  because,  if 
they  were  seeking  for  grace,  they  would  be  sure 
to  find  it  of  one  or  another  sort. 

Mr.  Wilson  followed  with  his  exercise,  and 
declared  that  he  knew  none  of  the  elders  or 
brethren  of  the  churches,  who  did  not  labor  to 
advance,  in  a  Scripture  sense,  the  free  grace  of 
God  in  justification,  though  he  insisted  upon 
the  use  and  necessity  of  sanctification.*  Had 
the  town  of  Boston  been  furnished  at  that  time 
with  a  powerful  fire-engine,  the  discharge  of  its 
contents    indiscriminately   upon    that   heated    as- 

*  Winthrop,  Vol.  1.  p.  213. 


228  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

sembly  would  doubtless  have  been  the  most 
effectual  extinguisher  of  the  strife.  Wilson,  of 
course,  gave  offence ;  but,  as  Winthrop  vv^ith  great 
simplicity  says,  he  so  cleared  the  subject,  that 
"  no  man  could  tell  (except  some  few  who  knew 
the  bottom  of  the  matter)  where  any  differ- 
ence was." 

The  spirit  of  discord  was  now  at  its  height. 
The  controversy  had  now  become  principally 
concentrated  on  the  question.  What  is  the  best 
evidence  a  person  can  have  of  justification,  that 
is,  of  being  in  an  accepted  state  before  God? 
It  was  of  the  very  marrow  of  Puritan  divinity, 
that  which  prevailed  in  our  churches,  that  out- 
ward sanctification,  practical  holiness  of  life,  was 
the  best  evidence.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  Wheel- 
wright taught  that  the  Spirit  of  God,  by  a  pow- 
erful application,  begat  in  the  breast,  or  sent 
home  there,  or  directly  revealed,  a  powerful  as- 
surance of  justification ;  a  question  on  which  if 
there  be  any  perplexity,  it  may  be  easily  resolv- 
ed by  the  relation  between  cause  and  effect 
though,  after  all,  the  contest  between  the  dis- 
putants was,  which  of  the  two,  sanctification  or 
justification,  was  the  cause,  and  which  the  effect. 
The  case  seems  to  be  paralleled  when  an  accused 
person  is  brought  before  a  court  of  justice.  If 
he  wish  to  depart  from  the  method  of  law,  and 
insist  upon  his  own  conviction  of  his  innocence, 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  229 

he  may  proceed  to  prove  it,  and  the  court  will 
listen,  but  his  inward  convictions  must  be  sus- 
tained by  demonstrable  facts. 

It  is,  however,  easy  to  understand  the  alarm 
which  was  experienced  from  the  literal  decla- 
ration of  justification  as  assured  independently 
of  sanctification.  The  doctrine  not  only  brought 
under  contempt  the  methods  and  tokens  of  ex- 
ternal obedience,  but  it  also  opened  a  wide  door 
to  let  in  immediate  revelations,  enthusiasms,  and 
rhapsodies.  It  was  at  this  stage  of  its  vitality, 
that  Antinomianisn  moulted,  and  turned  into 
Familism.  The  stanch  Captain  Underbill,  a 
famous  Low  Country  soldier,  and  one  of  our  lead- 
ers in  the  Pequot  war,  when  afterwards  brought 
under  durance  for  his  heresies  and  for  the  im- 
moralities growing  out  of  them,  went  the  whole 
length  of  avowing  all  the  worst  tenets  of  both 
sects.  He  averred  that  "  he  had  lain  under  a 
spirit  of  bondage  and  a  legal  way  five  years,  and 
could  get  no  assurance  [of  his  being  justified] 
till  at  length,  as  he  was  taking  a  pipe  of  tobacco, 
the  Spirit  sent  home  an  absolute  promise  of  free 
grace  with  such  assurance  and  joy,  as  he  never 
since  doubted  of  his  good  estate,  neither  should 
he,  though  he  should  fall  into  sin."  This  last 
clause  was  by  no  means  without  meaning  in  his 
case,  as  he  afterwards  freely  confessed  the  guilt 
of  the    foulest   immoralities    with  which    he  was 


230  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

charged,  and  he  was  also  brought  to  doubt  most 
painfully  concerning  "  his  good  estate."  * 

The  evils  of  heresy  and  contention  were  now 
aggravated  by  a  spirit  of  censoriousness,  person- 
ality, and  slander.  The  members  of  the  Boston 
church  roamed  about  among  the  other  churches, 
and  listened  to  the  ministers  only  to  criticise  and 
ridicule.  The  small  artillery  of  popular  discourse 
and  remark  kept  open  wounds  between  friends. 
This  offensive  battery  is  graphically  described  by 
Welde,  the  minister  of  Roxbury.  "  Now,  after 
our  sermons  were  ended  at  our  public  lectures, 
you  might  have  seen  half  a  dozen  pistols  dis- 
charged at  the  face  of  the  preacher."  Winthrop 
says  it  was  ''as  common  to  distinguish  between 
men  as  being  under  a  covenant  of  grace,  or  a 
covenant  of  works,  as  in  other  countries  between 
Protestants  and  Papists."  It  was  not  strange 
that  several  persons  in  the  colony  actually  *'  fell 
distracted." 

What  especially  grieved  some  of  the  ministers 
was  the  fact,  that  persons,  who  had  received  reli- 
gious impressions  from  them  in  their  former  par- 
ishes in  England,  had  been  by  them  turned  from 
sin,  and,  not  being  able  to  endure  their  absence, 
had  followed  them,  in  the  devotion  of  love,  to  the 
wilderness,    were    now  estranged    in  their    affec- 

*  Winthrop,  Vol.  I.  p.  270. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  231 

tions,  professed  they  had  received  no  good  from 
their  preaching,  and  even  mahgned  their  ben- 
efactors. Nothing  but  a  zeal,  which  was  holier 
than  passion,  retained  some  of  the  ministers  to 
this  thankless  service. 

The  ministers  assembled  in  conference  during 
the  session  of  the  Court  which  met  March  9th, 
1637  ;  and,  such  was  the  all-absorbing  interest  of 
the  controversy,  they  agreed  to  put  off  all  lectures 
for  three  weeks,  and  bring  the  matter  to  some 
issue.  In  the  Court  the  great  majority  was,  from 
the  beginning  to  the  conclusion  of  the  strife,  in 
strong  opposition  to  the  new  opinions,  which 
reigned  supreme  in  the  Boston  church.  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  was  sustained  by  the  powerful  though 
questionable  influence  of  Governor  Vane,  by  the 
pulpit  gifts  and  the  kindred  aifection  of  Wheel- 
wright, and  by  a  measure  of  sympathy  from  the 
"  famous  John  Cotton."  By  the  open  or  indi- 
rect agency  of  these  four  advocates,  the  whole 
metropolis  of  the  colony  was  set  in  opposition  to 
the  ministers  and  deputies  of  the  other  towns. 
In  the  Court,  therefore,  Winthrop  and  Wilson 
found  their  sole  comfort.  The  speech,  which 
Wilson  had  made  during  the  last  session,  was  at 
this  session  approved  ;  and  the  record  of  this  ap- 
proval, together  with  the  case  of  an  infliction  upon 
a  private  individual  for  contempt,  makes  up  the 
only  reference  in  the  court  book  at  this  time  to  a 


232  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

subject   which  engaged    more  attention    than    all 
others.* 

Mr.  Edward  Rawson,  the  secretary  of  the 
Court,  was  exceedingly  chary  of  recording  what 
he  might  have  supposed  would  have  won  no 
posthumous  honor  to  his  pen.  We  learn  from 
Winthrop,  that  the  treatment  which  had  been 
visited  upon  Wilson  for  his  speech  led  the  Court 
to  ask  advice  from  the  ministers,  as  to  its  authority 
in  things  which  concerned  the  churches.  They 
agreed  that  no  member  of  the  Court  ought  to  be 
questioned  for  any  speech  made  there,  by  the 
church,  unless  the  Court  granted  the  church  leave ; 
because  the  Court  might  have  reasons  in  secrets  of 
state  for  extending  this  protection  to  its  members ; 
the  ministers  also  agreed  that  the  Court  might 
proceed  against  all  heresies  and  errors  of  a  church 
member,  without  waiting  for  the  church  to  deal 
with  him,  except  when  those  heresies  and  errors 
were  of  a  doubtful  character,  in  which  case  they 
should  first  be  referred  to  the  church.  From  the 
attempt  which  was  made  to  fix  upon  the  prime 
mover  of  the  proceedings  against  Wilson,  and 
from  other  casual  hints,  it  would  seem  that  one 
who  could  not  well  be  named,  though  he  sat  at 
the  Court,  was  significantly  pointed  at.     In  other 


*  "The  Court  did  approve  of  Mr.  Wilson's  speech,   in 
their  judgments."    Court  Records,  Vol.  L,  under  date. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  233 

words,  Governor  Vane   was    the    object  of  quiet 
censure. 

The  case  just  referred  to  was  that  of  Stephen 
Greensmith,  who,  in  the  words  of  the  record, 
''  for  affirming  that  all  the  ministers  (except  Mr. 
Cotton,  Mr.  Wheelwright,  and,  he  thought,  Mr. 
Hooker)  did  teach  a  covenant  of  works,  was  for  a 
time  committed  to  the  marshal,  and  after  enjoined 
to  make  acknowledgment  to  the  satisfaction  of 
every  congregation,  and  was  fined  forty  pounds, 
and  standeth  bound  in  one  hundred  pounds  till 
this  be  done,  both  the  satisfaction  be  given  to  the 
ministers  and  the  churches,  and  the  court  be 
satisfied  for  the  fine."  Failing  to  appear,  he 
forfeited  his  recognizances  and  was  afterwards, 
committed,  being  the  first  of  the  free  talkers 
among  the  great  public  upon  whom  the  legal 
penalties  of  the  controversy  were  visited.  It 
was  in  vain  that  he  appealed  to  the  King.* 

Mr.  Wheelwright  was  called  up  before  this 
Court,  and  questioned  about  the  sermon  which  he 
had  preached  upon  the  Fast  in  January,  as  tending 
to  contempt  and  sedition.  It  being  kliown  that 
this  measure  was  intended,  nearly  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Boston  church  offered  a  petition  to  the 
Court,  requesting  that  as  freemen  they  might  be 
present  in  cases  of  judicature,  and  also  desiring 

*  Court  Records. 


234  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

the  Court  to  declare  whether  it  had  power,  in 
cases  of  conscience,  to  act  before  the  church  had 
acted.  This  petition  or  remonstrance  was,  in 
view  of  the  circumstances,  ''  taken  as  a  groundless 
and  presumptuous  act,"  and  was  rejected,  with 
the  answer,  that  the  Court,  when  acting  judicially, 
was  always  open,  but,  for  consultation  and  prepa- 
ration in  causes,  might  and  would  be  private. 
Mr.  Wheelwright's  sermon  was  then  produced, 
and  its  doctrine  was  justified  by  him.  Read  by 
us  at  the  present  day,  with  a  knowledge  of  the 
passions  then  at  work,  it  is  easy  to  understand 
how  it  gave  ofTence ;  but  it  can  be  called  seditious 
only  by  construction,  being  for  the  most  part 
composed  of  Scripture  references,  of  exhortations 
founded  upon  them,  and  of  answers  to  objections. 
The  text  (Matthew  ix.  15)  indicates  the  general 
drift  of  the  discourse,  which  was,  the  true  mean- 
ing, method,  and  uses  of  fasting  among  Christians, 
largely  illustrated  by  Old  Testament  passages. 

After  this  foundation  is  well  laid,  a  transition  is 
made  to  the  great  points  then  at  issue,  as  defined 
by  the  covenant  of  grace  and  the  covenant  of 
works.  In  this  part  of  the  discourse,  spiritual 
fires  and  burnings,  holy  warfare,  figurative  armor 
and  battles,  with  an  occasional  reference  to  the 
dangers  in  church  and  commonwealth,  which  are 
to  be  boldly  risked  for  the  sake  of  Christ's  truth, 
constitute  the  matter  upon  which  the  charge  of  a 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  235 

seditious  tendency  was  based.  As  already  said, 
this  charge  could  be  sustained  only  by  drawing 
inferences  at  a  venture,  and  by  imputing  to 
Wheelwright  sentiments  held  literally,  though 
expressed  by  figures.  At  any  other  time,  and 
under  different  circumstances,  no  hearer  would 
have  thought  of  putting  such  a  construction  on 
the  sermon.  Indeed,  each  of  the  whole  of  the 
first  generation  of  ministers,  who  came  hither,  had 
probably  said  more  in  their  English  pulpits,  which 
might  have  been  charged  as  seditious,  than  Wheel- 
wright said  here.  The  sermon  pronounced  some 
stringent  censures  upon  those  who  walked  by  a 
covenant  of  works,  or  maintained  that  sanctifica- 
tion  was  an  evidence  of  justification. 

The  ministers  being  called,  they  alleged  that 
they  maintained  this  doctrine ;  and  so,  by  syllo- 
gistic reasoning.  Wheelwright  was,  after  a  long 
debate,  found  guilty  of  sedition  and  contempt, 
his  offence  being  aggravated  by  his  having  em- 
ployed an  occasion  designed  to  heal  all  differ- 
ences as  a  means  for  kindling  and  increasing 
them.*      Governor    Vane    and   some    few    other 


*  A  large  portion  of  what  appears  to  be  the  original 
manuscript  of  this  discourse  is  preserved  in  the  archives  of 
the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society.  An  endorsement  says, 
"that  it  was  left  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  John  Coggeshall,  who 
was  a  deacon  of  the  church  in  Boston."  A  perfect  copy  of 
the  sermon  is  likewise  in  the  possession  of  the  Society, 


236  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

members  of  the  Court  dissented  from  the  judg- 
ment against  Wheelwright,  and  sent  in  a  protest, 
which,  because  it  wholly  justified  him,  the  Court 
refused  to  receive.  A  large  part  of  the  church 
in  Boston  hkewise  sent  in  a  remonstrance  or 
petition  to  the  Court,  alleging  their  grief  at  this 
proceeding  against  Wheelwright;  asserting  that 
there  was  nothing  of  sedition  in  the  preacher,  the 
doctrine,  or  the  approvers  of  this  discourse ;  sug- 
gesting that  the  fear  of  sedition  might  be  but  a 
method  of  the  old  serpent,  "  the  ancient  enemy 
of  free  grace,"  and  advising  the  rulers  to  con- 
sider the  danger  of  meddling  against  the  prophets 
of  God.* 

No  action  was  taken  at  the  time  upon  this 
afterwards  famous  petition.  It  bore  powerful 
names  upon  it,  and  the  Court  probably  showed 
no  little  policy  in  waiting  for  what  even  Win- 
ihrop  calls  "a  fair  opportunity."  The  paper  was 
hastily    drawn    up    when    the    judgment   of   the 


received  from  the  State-House,  and  bound  in  the  first  volume 
of  Hutchinson's  Papers.  Doubtless  many  copies  of  it  were 
taken,  besides  the  notes,  or  "  heads,"  which  many  of  our 
ancestors  were  wont  to  treasure  with  tlie  zeal  which  the 
Romanist  fixes  upon  relics. 

*  This  "  Remonstrance "  is  given  by  Welde,  in  his  pam- 
phlet, p.  21,  and  is  thence  copied  by  Savage  into  his 
Appendix  to  the  first  volume  of  his  invaluable  edition  of 
Winthrop. 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  237 

Court  against  Wheelwright  was  made  known. 
Sentence  against  him  was  also  deferred.  The 
Court  inquired  of  the  ministers  whether  it  might 
enjoin  silence  upon  him ;  but  they,  not  being 
clear  on  that  point,  advised  that  he  should  be 
commended  to  the  care  of  the  Boston  church, 
which  was  done,  he  being  enjoined  to  appear  at 
the  next  Court. 

The  state  of  feeling  in  Boston  may  easily  be 
imagined.  In  the  strife  about  the  two  covenants 
of  grace  and  works,  the  people,  the  ministers,  and 
the  rulers,  appear  to  have  well  nigh  slipped  from 
under  the  influence  of  either.  Boston  was  the 
head-quarters  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  force.  She 
had  forsaken  the  public  assembly  when  Wheel- 
wright was  proceeded  against,  and  had  in  fact  set 
up  an  assembly  of  her  own.  The  Court  felt 
itself  in  Boston  as  in  the  state  of  imjperium  in  im- 
perio,  and  was  moreover  greatly  incensed  against 
the  majority  of  the  church,  and  of  course  of  the 
influential  people  of  the  town,  on  account  of  the 
remonstrance  or  petition.  It  therefore  being  de- 
sirable to  escape  from  the  overwhelniing  forces 
of  male  and  female  tongues,  a  motion  was  made 
that  the  next  Court  of  Elections  should  be  held 
at  Newtown,  (Cambridge.)  Governor  Vane  re- 
fused to  put  the  question  to  vote.  Deputy-Gov- 
ernor Winthrop,  as  he  lived  in  Boston,  was  disin- 
clined  to   put   the    question    unless    the    Court 


238  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

required  it;  so  the  service  was  laid  upon  Mr. 
Endicott,  of  Salem,  and  the  motion  was  carried. 

The  spirit  of  discord  wrought  in  manifold  ways 
which  have  not  been  chronicled.  Historic  fancy 
can  however  fill  in  the  touches,  which  will  give 
expression  and  reality  to  the  well  defined  features 
of  the  great  picture.  One  little  incident,  that 
implies  very  much,  is  recorded.  The  church 
of  Concord  kept  a  day  of  humiliation  at  Cam- 
bridge on  the  6th  of  April,  1637,  for  the  ordination 
of  elders.  From  this  ceremony,  Vane,  Cotton, 
Wheelwright,  and  all  the  Boston  church  of  any 
note,  absented  themselves,  as  they  would  not  be 
concerned  in  the  ordination  of  legal  preachers,  as 
they  accounted  Bulkeley  and  Jones.  The  coloni- 
zation of  Connecticut  by  people  from  Massachu- 
setts was  largely  advanced,  at  this  period,  by  the 
dread  of  the  Antinomian  influences  which  pre- 
vailed  in  and  around  Boston. 

The  Court  met  at  Cambridge,  on  the  17th  of 
May,  1637,  when  rare  and  shameful  scenes  were 
enacted,  the  grave  and  sober  Pilgrims  being  pre- 
sented in  a  most  ridiculous  plight.  It  is  not  re- 
corded that  any  blows  were  absolutely  inflicted  ; 
but  the  technical  import  of  "  assault  and  battery  " 
was  fulfilled  beyond  the  letter,  and  far  into  the 
spirit,  as,  while  warm  words  and  angry  epithets 
were  exchanged,  the  conflicting  brethren  laid 
hands  upon  each  other.     The  people  of  the  other 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  239 

towns  besides  Boston  had  repented  of  the  choice 
of  the  youthful  Vane  for  Governor;  and  discovered 
the  mistake  into  which  they  had  been  led  by 
their  enthusiasm.  This  devoted  champion  of 
Wheelwright  and  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  besides  all 
his  private  influence,  embarrassed  the  proceedings 
of  the  Court.  The  electors  assembled  with  the 
determination  to  eject  him,  that  they  might  re- 
store the  well  approved  Winthrop.  The  session 
commenced  at  one  o'clock,  and  Vane  insisted 
upon  opening  the  proceedings  by  reading  a  peti- 
tion from  Boston.  The  petition  was  about  ''  the 
pretence  of  liberty,"  though  it  looked  askance 
towards  revoking  the  proceedings  against  Wheel- 
wright, and  would  have  occupied  the  whole  day 
in  debate. 

Winthrop  opposed  the  reading  as  out  of  order, 
elections  being  the  chief  and  the  first  business. 
Others  sustained  him  in  his  opposition.  But 
Vane,  with  a  few  to  support  him,  insisted  upon 
reading  the  petition  ;  and,  after  much  waste  of 
time  and  dire  confusion,  the  large  majority,  upon 
division,  was  for  election.  Still  Vane  would 
not  yield,  till  the  tumult  so  increased  that  he  left 
his  place  and  departed.  The  assembly  being  in 
the  open  air,  upon  a  warm  day,  the  Reverend 
Mr.  Wilson  mounted  into  a  tree,  and  from  the 
branches  of  the  same  offered  the  first  example 
in    this    country  of  a  kind   of  eloquence  which, 


240  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

having  a  lower  theme  than  he  had,  is  satisfied 
with  a  stump.  His  speech  had  its  effect.  Win- 
throp  was  chosen  Governor ;  Dudley,  deputy  ;  the 
other  assistants  or  magistrates  were  all  taken  from 
among  those,  who  "  owned  a  covenant  of  works," 
and  Vane,  Coddington,  and  Dummer,  of  the 
opposite  party,  were  left  out.  This  election,  from 
which  the  so  called  Antinomians  had  expected, 
through  the  influence  of  the  country  deputies, 
a  decisive  triumph,  resulted  in  their  defeat.  The 
Boston  people  had  delayed  sending  their  deputies 
to  the  Court,  until  the  election  should  have  been 
concluded ;  but  the  discomfited  party  went  home 
warm  from  the  strife,  and  the  next  morning  sent 
to  the  Court,  as  their  representatives,  Vane,  Cod- 
dington, and  Hough,  all  zealous  friends  of  Mrs. 
Hutchinson. 

Irritated  by  this  defiance,  the  Court  found  means 
for  refusing  to  receive  them,  on  the  plea  that 
two  of  the  freemen  of  Boston  had  not  legal  notice 
of  the  election.  The  deputies  returned  home  ; 
but  the  resolute  citizens  of  the  metropolis,  setting 
an  example  which  their  descendants  have  never 
yet  disgraced,  made  a  new  choice,  and  returned 
the  same  three  gentlemen  the  next  morning,  the 
Court  being  compelled  to  receive  them.  Even 
the  honored  Winthrop  was  made,  for  a  season, 
to  bear  some  personal  slights  in  Boston.  The 
sergeants  had  been  wont  to  attend  Vane  as  Gov- 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  241 

ernor  to  and  from  the  courts  and  public  worship, 
but  they  laid  down  their  halberds  and  went 
home.  It  being  a  voluntary  service  on  the  part 
of  the  sergeants,  they  could  not  be  compelled  to 
it ;  and  though  the  Court  offered  to  provide  for 
Winthrop  the  honor  of  the  four  halberds,  he 
was  content  to  take  two  of  his  own  servants  for 
the  work. 

The  fact,  that  there  was  no  press  in  the  coun- 
try at  this  time,  was  probably  an  essential  relief 
to  the  controversy  and  the  people.  But  numer- 
ous writings  were  penned  and  circulated.  The 
magistrates  put  forth  an  apology  to  justify  their 
proceedings  against  Wheelwright.  His  friends 
issued  a  remonstrance,  in  which,  as  Winthrop  says, 
they  garbled  the  offensive  sermon,  and  altered 
the  sense  of  the  objectionable  passages.  The  same 
disingenuousness  Winthrop  charges  upon  "  a 
small  tractate  "  by  Wheelwright  upon  the  prin- 
cipal doctrine  of  his  sermon.  The  other  minis- 
ters replied  to  the  sermon  by  a  scriptural  exam- 
ination and  "  confutation  "  of  it.  This  answer  of 
theirs  Mr.  Cotton  in  turn  examined,  in  order  to 
present  the  differences,  which  he  did  "  in  a  very 
narrow  scantling."  Mr.  Shepherd,  of  Cambridge, 
preached  the  sermon  to  the  newly  elected  magis- 
trates, and  reduced  the  differences  to  a  still  more 
compact   compass,  so   that   only  the   most  acute 

VOL.    VI.  16 


242  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

persons  could  discern  where  the  parties  disa- 
greed. 

Winthrop  very  judiciously  remarks  that  a  rec- 
onciliation would  have  been  easy,  "  if  men's  af- 
fections had  not  been  formerly  alienated,  when 
the  differences  were  formerly  stated  as  fundamen- 
tal." Readers  shall  have  the  benefit  of  seeing, 
in  Winthrop's  own  words,  how  close  the  par- 
ties came  together.  "  In  these  particulars  they 
agreed ;  first,  that  justification  and  sanctification 
were  both  together  in  time  ;  second,  that  a  man 
must  know  himself  to  be  justified  before  he  can 
know  himself  to  be  sanctified ;  third,  that  the 
Spirit  never  witnesseth  justification  without  a 
word  and  a  work."  There  are  those  to  whom 
this  harmony  is  intelligible.  A  smaller  number, 
however,  will  understand  the  difference,  which 
was,  '^  whether  the  first  assurance  be  by  an  abso- 
lute promise  always,  and  not  by  a  conditional 
also,  and  whether  a  man  could  have  any  true 
assurance,  without  sight  of  some  such  work  in  his 
soul  as  no  hypocrite  could  attain  unto."  *  The 
difference  is  by  no  means  trifling,  for  it  enters 
into  and  constitutes  two  distinct  systems  even  of 
Christian  faith. 

Mr.    Wheelwright    appeared,   as    enjoined,    to 

*  Winthrop,  Vol.  I.  p.  221. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  243 

receive  a  sentence  which,  as  may  well  be  con- 
ceived, the  Court  was  reluctant  to  pass.  Advan- 
tage was  taken  of  a  day  of  humiliation  about  to 
be  observed,  as  a  preparation  for  a  Synod  which 
was  soon  to  follow,  to  respite  him  until  August. 
The  Court,  having  now  full  power,  wished  to  show 
some  magnanimity,  and  to  prove  that  "the  tu- 
multuous course,  and  divers  insolent  speeches," 
which  it  encountered,  did  not  move  it  to  crush  a 
crippled  foe.  A  suggestion  was  made  to  Wheel- 
wright, that  it  might  be  well  for  him  to  win 
mercy  by  retracting  his  expressions.  He  replied, 
that  if  he  had  been  guilty  of  sedition,  he  ought 
to  be  put  to  death,  and  that  if  he  was  proceeded 
against,  he  should  appeal  to  the  King's  Court, 
as  he  would  retract  nothing.  The  Court  was 
equally  firm,  alleging  that  if  judgment  were  had 
in  his  case  again,  it  would  be  the  same,  but  that 
if  the  synod  should  give  any  new  light  upon  the 
matter,  it  would  be  gladly  embraced.  It  was 
at  this  Court  that  Massachusetts  provided  one 
hundred  and  sixty  men  to  go  forth  in  the  ex- 
pedition against  the  Pequots.  The  leader  and 
the  chaplain  were  chosen  by  lot.  We  learn  from 
Welde,  that  even  this  enterprise  against  a  com- 
mon enemy  was  affected  by  the  agitation  caused 
by  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  The  lot  falling  upon  Wil- 
son as  chaplain,  none   of   the  "  choice  members  '* 


244  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

of  Boston  would  accompany  him,  or  even  bid 
him    farewell.* 

There  being  at  this  time  reason  to  fear,  that 
the  Antinomian  party  would  receive  a  reenforce- 
ment  from  members  of  a  church  in  England  under 
the  ministry  of  Mr.  Brierly,  an  order  was  passed 
that  no  town  or  person  should  receive  any  stran- 
ger resorting  hither  with  intent  to  reside  in  this 
jurisdiction,  or  allow  any  lot  or  habitation  to  any 
such,  without  permission  of  one  of  the  council,  or 
two  others  of  the  magistrates.!  This  order  is  one 
evidence  among  many  which  appear  on  our  rec- 
ords, that  our  fathers  never  meditated  the  free 
opening  of  their  patented  and  purchased  territory 
as  a  place  of  refuge  to  all  sorts  of  consciences, 
but  designed  it,  as  a  man  designs  his  house,  as  a 
place  of  peace,  comfort,  and  discipline,  for  those 
who  are  of  one  mind,  and  feeling,  and  interest. 
Our  fathers  are  often  judged  as  if  they  cherished 
the  former  purpose ;  a  principle  which  they  never 
recognized  is  set  up  for  them,  and  then  they  are 
condemned  for  not  acting  by  it. 

That  order  of  Court  appears  to  us  arbitrary. 
So  it  appeared  to  some  of  that  day  ;  but  whether 
because  of  their  liberality,  or  because  it  excluded 
their    friends,    it   would    be    difficult   to    decide. 


*  Welde's  Short  Story,  &c.  p.  25. 
f  Court  Records,  Vol.  1.,  under  date. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  245 

Cotton  was  opposed  to  it,  and,  as  will  after- 
wards appear,  meditated  a  removal  from  the 
jurisdiction,  in  company  with  Davenport.  Gov- 
ernor Winthrop  wrote  a  declaration  of  the  in- 
tent and  equity  of  tlie  order,  and  defended  it. 
To  this,  Vane  wrote  a  reply,  which,  in  turn,  was 
followed  by  a  rejoinder  from  Winthrop.  These 
papers  show  considerable  acumen  of  argument, 
and  exhibit  but  little  of  the  baser  spirit  of  con- 
troversy, though  by  no  means  deficient  in  tart- 
ness. Estimated  by  the  principles,  which  have 
been  assured  to  our  day  by  the  heats  and  per- 
plexities of  a  former  age.  Vane  will  appear  to 
have  had  the  nobler  side ;  but  by  the  principles 
religiously  recognized  at  the  time,  Winthrop  sus- 
tained his  ground.* 

Vane  and  Coddington  showed  their  temper 
or  sense  of  injury  in  various  ways,  as,  after  their 
discomfiture  at  the  election,  might  have  been 
expected  of  them.  They  left  the  seats  appro- 
priated for  the  magistrates  in  public  worship, 
which  Vane  had  occupied  from  his  first  arrival, 
and  took  places  with  the  deacons,  though  Win- 
throp sent  to  them  desiring  them  to  sit  with  him. 
On  the  day  appointed  for  a  Fast,  on  occasion 
of  the  Pequot  war,  they  deserted  the  Boston  con- 

*  These  three  documents  are  preserved  in  Hutchinson's 
valuable  "Collection  of  Papers,"  pp.  67-100.  They  fur 
nish  an  admirable  illustration  of  the  losric  of  the  time. 


246  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

gregation,  and  spent  the  day  with  Wheelwright 
at  Mount  Wollaston,  listening  to  him.  We  may 
well  imagine  that  while  such  freaks  and  distem- 
pers appeared  among  the  magistrates,  the  ordi- 
nary sort  of  people  would  take  their  own  pecu- 
liar way  for  showing  their  feelings. 

The  slights,  which  Winthrop  received  in  Bos- 
ton, were  however  made  up  in  a  measure  by 
the  honors  which  attended  him  in  a  summer  tour 
through  Lynn,  Salem,  and  Ipswich,  where  the 
military  and  the  people  did  him  reverence  be- 
yond his  wishes.  He  had  much  to  endure  in 
the  place  of  his  residence ;  and  his  magnanimity 
and  Christian  spirit  are  testified  abundantly  by 
his  passionless  record  of  daily  occurrences.  He 
relates  with  perfect  calmness  one  insult  put  upon 
him,  in  proof  of  his  remark  that  "  the  differences 
grew  so  much  here,  as  tended  fast  to  a  separa- 
tion." The  young  Lord  Ley,  not  yet  a  man,  son 
and  heir  of  the  Earl  of  Marlborough,  arrived  in 
Boston  on  the  26th  of  June,  1637,  on  a  visit 
of  curiosity  and  observation.  Governor  Win- 
throp invited  Vane,  in  company  with  this  honored 
youth,  to  dinner ;  but  Vane  not  only  refused, 
'^  alleging  by  letter  that  his  conscience  withheld 
him,"  but  also  at  the  same  hour  took  Lord  Ley 
to  Noddle's  Island  to  dine  with  Mr.  Maverick.* 

*  Winthrop,  Vol.  I.  p.  232. 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  247 

About  this  time,  a  brother  of  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son, with  some  other  friends  of  Mr.  Wheelwright, 
arrived  in  Boston ;  and  they  being  persons  es- 
pecially to  be  dreaded  by  the  party  in  power, 
the  recent  order  of  Court  about  residence  was 
made  applicable  to  them.  To  save  others  from 
danger,  Governor  Winthrop  gave  them  leave  to 
sojourn  four  months,  and  this  was  the  cause  of 
increased  contention. 

On  the  3d  of  August,  1637,  Henry  Vane  and 
Lord  Ley  sailed  for  England.  The  partisans  and 
friends  of  the  late  Governor  made  an  occasion 
of  his  departure,  large  numbers  waiting  upon  him 
to  the  boat,  and  some  accompanying  him  in  the 
boat  to  the  ship  out  in  the  harbor,  while  volleys 
of  shot  and  double  salutes  spoke  defiance  or 
reproach  to  his  enemies  in  the  compliment  to 
himself.  Winthrop  remained  at  his  place  at  the 
Court,  and  did  not  join  in  the  parade,  but  had 
given  order  to  the  military  officer  to  provide  for 
the  honorable  dismission  of  his  temporary  rival 
in  the  affections  of  the  Bay  colony. 

It  is  pleasant  to  observe,  that  there  Js  no  rec- 
ord of  any  rancorous  expression  or  uncourteous 
deed  by  Winthrop  in  relation  to  Vane.  That  the 
father  of  the  Massachusetts  colony  felt  keenly 
the  treatment  he  had  received,  directly  and  in- 
directly, in  church  and  state,  on  the  account  of 


248  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

this  young  man,  there  can  be  no  doubt;  but  he 
wisely  concealed,  or  religiously  controlled,  the 
outward  exhibition  of  his  feeling.  Nor  did  Vane 
bear  any  umbrage  to  the  colony,  from  which  he 
retired  with  less  of  regard  and  reverence  than 
he  received  on  being  introduced  to  it.  From 
his  marked  career  either  as  a  fanatic  or  apostle 
of  freedom,  as  friend  or  foe  may  call  him,  and 
in  his  dismal  fate  on  the  scaffold,  his  character 
perplexes  us,  because  it  presents  traits  not  usu- 
ally found  in  men  of  public  fame  or  political 
education.  Lord  Say  and  Seal  lost  his  regard 
for  Vane,  or  rather  changed  the  character  of 
that  regard.  But  Vane,  to  the  great  credit  of 
his  real  principles,  found  satisfaction  in  being,  in 
England,  the  true  friend  of  the  colony. 

No  very  critical  eye  or  judgment  is  neces" 
sary  to  assure  or  persuade  us  that  the  depart- 
ure of  Vane  was  hailed  as  an  inexpressible  relief. 
We  observe,  that  as  soon  as  his  powerful  in- 
fluence, whether  openly  or  covertly  exercised, 
was  withdrawn,  the  opposers  of  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son's party  began  to  pursue  their  desired  ends 
with  more  freedom.  It  is  easy  to  found  upon 
this  fact  a  specification  of  a  general  charge  of 
unfairness,  which  some  may  think  it  right  to 
add  to  that  of  bigotry,  against  the  Massachusetts 
government.     But  with  the  best  light,  which  re- 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  249 

search  will  throw  on  this  controversy,  a  candid 
judgment  will  be  likely  to  conclude,  that  no 
moral  quality  was  disproportionably  displayed  by 
either  party. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

The  Synod  at  Cambridge  in  1637.  —  Prepa- 
rations for  it.  —  Interest  in  it.  —  Proceedings, 
—  Opinions  adduced  without  Names.  —  Offence 
given.  —  Inferences  from  Mrs.  Hutchinso7i's 
Opinions.  —  Errors  confuted.  —  '^  Unsavory 
Speeches.''^ — Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  Mr.  Wheel- 
wright not  satisfied  or  won  over.  —  Decisions 
of  the  Ministers  on  several  Questions.  —  Mr. 
Cotton  changes  his  Course. —  Result  of  the 
Synod.  —  Mr.  John  Higginson. 

The  conferences  which  had  been  already  held 
among  the  ministers,  in  reference  to  the  opin- 
ions identified  with  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  suggested 
the  meeting  of  a  larger  number  in  a  freer  way, 
for  the  purpose  of  clearing  up  the  grounds  of 
variance.  It  was  agreed  that  a  Synod  should 
be  held,  beginning  on  the  30th  of  August,  1637. 
Preparations   of  various    kinds,    but   all   tending 


250  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

to  the  same  result,  that  of  giving  extension 
and  heat  to  the  strife,  were  made  for  this  Syn- 
od, the  first  assembly  of  the  kind  which  the 
light  of  the  sun  ever  shone  upon  in  this  westi 
ern  hemisphere.  The  twenty-fourth  day  of  the 
month  was  observed  by  fasting  and  prayer 
throughout  the  churches  of  the  jurisdiction.  The 
ministers  held  many  previous  interviews  and  dis- 
cussions together;  and  as  they  earnestly  sought 
to  acquaint  themselves  with  each  other's  views, 
some  advances  were  made  towards  reconcilia- 
tion between  Cotton,  Wheelwright,  and  Wilson. 
The  last  professed,  that  in  the  speech  by  which 
he  had  given  such  offence,  he  did  not  refer  to 
opinions  expressed  by  the  two  former  in  the 
open  congregations,  but  to  opinions,  which  he 
specified,  that  had  been  privately  uttered.  He 
had  indeed  made  the  same  disclaimer  before ; 
but  it  does  not  appear  to  have  been  fully  re- 
ceived until  this  time,  when  it  was  thought  so 
much  of  that  Cotton  referred  to  it  in  the  pub- 
lic services,  and  it  was  allowed  that  the  rest  of 
Wilson's  speech,  considering  the  freedom  of  the 
Court,  was  inoffensive. 

Another  preparation  for  the  Synod  was  the 
collecting  together  of  the  "  erroneous  opinions " 
which  were  in  circulation  over  the  country. 
This  was  a  most  injudicious  and  deplorable  work. 
Their    number   was    raised   to   eighty-two,    and 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  251 

would,  probably,  have  gone  much  higher,  had 
more  time  been  allowed  for  raking  them  together, 
as  such  things  increase  in  an  arithmetical  ratio. 
Mr.  Wilson  returned  from  the  Pequot  expedi- 
tion, which  had  ended  in  ruin  to  that  formidable 
tribe  of  savages ;  and  Mr.  Hooker  and  Mr.  Stone, 
accompanying  him,  brought  with  them  the  scalps 
of  the  dreaded  chiefs,  so  that  one  fear  was  now 
calmed.  The  famous  Mr.  Davenport,  who  had 
arrived  in  Boston  on  the  26th  of  June,  made 
himself  sufficiendy  acquainted  with  the  contro- 
versy excited  by  Mrs.  Hutchinson  to  preach  the 
Thursday  lecture,  on  the  17th  of  August,  and  to 
enter  into  the  thickest  of  the  strife.  Mr.  Cotton 
followed  him  with  an  exposition  to  prove,  that, 
in  undertaking  any  weighty  business  like  war, 
the  rulers  should  advise  with  the  ministers,  and 
instanced  ''  David  in  the  case  of  Ziglag."  All 
these  intended  preparations  for  the  Synod  were 
aggravations  of  the  controversy. 

The  Synod,  or  assembly,  sat  at  Newtown, 
(Cambridge,)  on  Wednesday,  the  30th  of  August, 
1637,  all  the  teachers  and  elders  thmugh  the 
country,  including  some  lately  arrived  but  not 
settled,  and  the  magistrates,  being  members  of  it. 
The  session  continued  through  three  weeks,  with 
open  doors  and  full  liberty  of  speech.  Bulke- 
ley  and  Hooker  were  the  moderators  through- 
out  the    long   dehberation.      The    latter   divine 


252  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

had  at  first  objected  to  the  holding  of  such  an 
assembly,  as  tending  to  more  distraction,  and 
to  the  consumption  of  time  which  could  ill  be 
spared ;  and  he  had  recommended  in  its  stead, 
that  the  questions  in  dispute  should  be  sent  over 
to  some  of  the  godly  brethren  in  England.  Mr. 
Shepherd,  the  minister  of  the  town  where  the 
assembly  was  held,  opened  the  deliberations  with 
prayer.  Probably  a  convention  organized  at  the 
present  day,  for  the  reception  of  intelligence  from 
the  presumptive  inhabitants  of  the  moon,  would 
not  be  regarded  with  a  more  intense  and  consum- 
ing anxiety,  than  was  this  New  England  Synod 
by  the  high-wrought  zeal  of  our  devout  fathers. 
After  the  choice  of  the  moderators,  the  erro- 
neous opinions  which  were  in  circulation  over 
the  country,  and  which  had  been  previously  gath- 
ered together,  were  read,  as  also  the  texts  of 
Scripture  which  were  abused  to  their  support, 
and  certain  "  unsavory  speeches,"  which  had 
been  uttered  in  the  course  of  the  previous  agi- 
tations. Eighty-two  erroneous  opinions  consti- 
tuted the  list,  they  being  principally  inferences 
which  the  ingenuity  of  the  ministers  could  draw 
from  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  prominent  views,  or  rash 
and  ill-advised  extremes  of  sentiment,  which  one 
or  another  individual  had  been  heard  to  express. 
The  array  and  specification  of  such  a  host  of 
errors,  often  boldly  stated,  that  they  might  lose 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  253 

nothing  of  their  repulsiveness  to  the  orthodox, 
and  not  ascribed  to  any  individuals  by  name, 
gave  great  offence  to  some  who  were  obnox- 
ious to  censure,  as  if  all  these  errors  were  as- 
cribed to  them.  They  complained  that  the 
colony  was  brought  under  great  reproach  by 
such  a  hideous  catalogue  of  unclaimed  and  un- 
appropriated theological  notions,  and  they  de- 
manded that  the  names  of  the  individuals,  who 
respectively  held  them,  should  be  declared. 

To  this  demand  it  was  replied,  that  it  could 
be  proved  that  all  these  errors  were  professed 
by  some  in  the  country,  and  that,  as  the  Synod 
was  held  in  regard  to  opinions,  and  not  to  per- 
sons, there  was  no  need  of  appropriating  them 
to  individuals,  or  of  giving  names.  Still,  a 
great  clamor  was  raised  that  the  witnesses,  the 
evidence,  and  the  advocates  of  these  opinions, 
should  be  brought  forward;  and  nothing  but  a 
threat  that  a  magistrate  would  interfere  if  the  or- 
der of  the  assembly  was  disturbed,  brought  the 
offended  party  to  a  measure  of  restraint.  Some 
members  of  the  Boston  church,  with  their  friends, 
protested  against  the  policy  which  thus  attempted 
to  bring  their  cherished  opinions  into  contempt 
by  merging  them  in  a  hateful  fellowship;  and 
they  left  the  assembly  in  indignation. 

The  drawing  of  inferences  was,   from  first  to 
last,  the   aggravation  of  this  controversy.     This 


254  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

list  of  eighty- two  floating  errors  seems,  as  we 
should  judge,  to  have  been  made  out  for  the 
sake  of  drawing  dangerous  conclusions  from  the 
few  simple  and  well  defined  sentiments,  which 
were  held  by  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  her  brother. 
The  ministers  saw  or  apprehended  these  con- 
clusions, and  they  took  this  method  of  making 
clear  to  the  mass  of  the  people  matters  which 
they  did  not  understand,  but  on  account  of  which 
they  were  ready  to  fight.  Though  no  large  or 
full  exhibition  has  been  made  in  these  pages  of 
the  religious  opinions  held  with  such  clearness, 
and  put  forth  with  such  power,  by  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson, yet  the  reader,  relieved  of  what  might  be 
wearisome  details,  will  understand  that  her  lead- 
ing idea  was,  that  a  w^ork  wrought  by  the  Spirit 
of  God  within  the  breast  was  the  all-essential 
thing  to  witness  a  state  of  justification ;  and  that 
outward  methods,  graces,  and  virtues,  could  be 
no  substitute  for  this,  were  secondary,  and  com- 
paratively unimportant,  and  might,  indeed,  if 
stress  w^ere  laid  upon  them,  delude  a  professor 
into  a  fatal  error  about  his  state. 

Good  as  well  as  bad  inferences  might  be  drawn 
from  this  leading  tenet ;  but  it  is  observable,  that 
by  far  the  larger  number  of  the  "eighty-two 
erroneous  opinions  "  are  such  as  she  would  never 
have  uttered,  though  some  of  her  followers  might 
have  felt  bound,  in  adherence  to  supposed  con- 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  255 

sistency,  to  abide  by  them.  It  is  evident  on 
the  whole,  that  in  that  hst  her  views  are  car- 
icatured, ungenerously  represented,  and  to  all 
intents  and  purposes  perverted.  We  find  in  the 
list  such  alleged  errors  as  the  following.  "■  Error 
16.  There  is  no  difference  between  the  graces 
of  hypocrites  and  believers,  in  the  kinds  of  them." 
^'  Error  22.  None  are  to  be  exhorted  to  believe, 
but  such  whom  we  know  to  be  the  elect  of  God, 
or  to  have  his  Spirit  in  them  effectually."  "Error 
39.  The  due  search  and  knowledge  of  the  Holy 
Scripture  is  not  a  safe  and  sure  way  of  searching 
and  finding  Christ."  "  Error  43.  The  Spirit  acts 
most  in  the  saints  when  they  endeavor  least." 
"  Error  59.  A  man  may  not  be  exhorted  to  any 
duty,  because  he  hath  no  power  to  do  it." 
*'  Error  64.  A  man  must  take  no  notice  of  his 
sin,  nor  of  his  repentance  for  his  sin."  "  Error 
76.  The  devil  and  nature  may  be  cause  of  a 
gracious  work." 

Such  conclusions  as  these  might  have  been 
drawn  to  infinity  from  the  leading  sentiment 
which  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  even  during  the  sitting 
of  the  assembly,  continued  to  inculcate  in  her 
attractive  meetings  in  Boston.  But  with  equal 
or  even  less  ingenuity,  conclusions  might  have 
been  drawn  looking  to  an  opposite  tendency, 
advocating    self-communion,    devout    meditation, 


256  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

an  ordering  of  the  inner  thoughts,  a  cleansing  of 
the  breast,  in  which,  as  a  temple,  the  Spirit  of  God 
doth  dwell,  and  pure  and  frequent  worship  within 
the  chambers  of  the  soul.  It  cannot,  however,  be 
denied  or  put  out  of  sight  by  a  candid  umpire, 
that  Mrs.  Hutchinson  did  maintain  some  danger- 
ous and  alarming  opinions,  which  she  advanced 
likewise  in  a  way  to  wound  the  feelings  of  some 
devout  and  faithful  Christians,  to  obstruct  the 
success  of  their  labors,  to  resist  the  force  of  their 
teachings,  and  to  lead  those  willing  to  err  into 
foolish  and  ruinous  delusions.  Doubtless  she 
felt  some  grievances  of  the  same  sort  from  those, 
who  withstood  her  unintermitted  exhortations 
and    prophesyings. 

The  first  week  of  the  session  of  the  assembly 
was  spent  in  discussing  these  erroneous  opinions, 
conclusions,  or  inferences,  with  constant  refer- 
ences to  the  ''  unsavory  speeches,"  which  kept 
them  company.  Texts  of  Scripture,  with  brief 
and  condensed  arguments,  were  set  down  after 
each  specified  heresy.  The  condemnation  of  the 
errors  was  subscribed  by  nearly  all  the  elders  and 
delegates  of  the  churches ;  but  some  who  assent- 
ed to  the  condemnation  would  not  take  part  in 
the  subscription,  which  was  to  them  ''  a  word  of  ill 
sound." 

The  errors  were  then  condensed  and  classified 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  257 

under  a  few  general  heads,  first  nine,  then  five, 
then  three.  These  were  debated  for  a  fortnight, 
the  arguments  being  prepared  in  the  forenoon, 
and  presented  in  the  afternoon,  in  writing.  This 
was  in  fact  a  protracted  disputation  between 
Wheelwright  and  Cotton  on  the  one  part,  and 
the  other  ministers  upon  the  other  part.  It  is 
evident  that,  Wheelwright  being  regarded  as  in- 
corrigible, the  ministers  spent  their  efforts  on 
Cotton.  Five  questions  relating  to  the  connec- 
tion between  sanctification  and  justification  Avere 
put  to  him ;  the  Synod  replied  to  his  answers  to 
these  questions  ;  he  examined  these  replies ;  and 
the  Synod  closed  with  rejoinders.  Thus  Cotton 
was  at  last  brought  to  a  show  of  accordance  with 
his  brethren.  Winthrop  gives  the  five  points  of 
agreement,  which  it  is  not  necessary  to  copy,  be- 
cause, if  they  are  not  unintelligible,  it  may  safely 
be  said  that  there  is  not  a  man  or  a  woman  in 
Massachusetts,  who  would  be  afraid  to  risk  sal- 
vation for  time  and  eternity,  as  far  as  they  are 
concerned,  upon  either  view  of  them.  But  nei- 
ther the  sister  nor  the  brother  was  won.* 

The  last  day  of  the  assembly  was  occupied  in 
the  discussion  of  four  subsidiary  questions,  which 
the   controversy    had    made    important.      These 

*  Winthrop,  Vol.  I.  p.  239. 
VOL.    VI.  17 


258  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

questions  are  signified  by  the  decisions  upon 
them,  which  were  as  follows.  Though  it  was 
thought  allowable  for  a  few  women,  meeting 
together,  to  pray  and  edify  one  another,  yet  such 
meetings  as  Mrs.  Hutchinson  held  in  Boston, 
where,  before  a  large  company,  she  statedly 
exercised  "  in  a  prophetical  way  "  upon  doctrines 
and  expositions,  were  declared  disorderly  and 
without  rule.  It  was  agreed  that  a  private  mem- 
ber, by  permission  of  the  elders,  might  wisely 
and  sparingly  put  a  question  for  information  after 
sermon ;  but  criticisms  and  bitter  reproaches,  hke 
to  what  prevailed,  were  utterly  condemned.  It 
was  decided  that  a  person  refusing  to  come  and 
receive  the  censure  of  his  church  might  be  pro- 
ceeded against  in  his  absence,  though  it  was 
thought  better  that  his  presence  should  be  com- 
pelled by  the  magistrate.  Lastly,  the  assembly 
determined  that  a  church  member  had  no  right 
to  absent  himself  from  the  ordinances,  where  he 
belonged,  on  account  of  an  opinion  not  funda- 
mental ;  and  that  his  church  might  deny  him  a 
dismission  to  any  other,  if  he  sought  to  go  merely 
on  account  of  that  opinion. 

These  four  decisions  show  us  very  significantly 
what  sort  of  extra  and  secondary  grievances 
mingled  with  the  dispute  about  the  two  cove- 
nants.    Before  the  breaking  up  of  the  assembly, 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  259 

Governor  Winthrop,  deserted  for  the  moment  by 
his  guardian  angel  of  good  discretion,  suggested, 
in  view  of  the  peaceable  and  comfortable  conclu- 
sion of  the  Synod,  that  such  a  one  be  held  once 
a  year,  or  at  least  the  next  year,  to  settle  what 
remained,  "  or  if  but  to  nourish  love."  The  mo- 
tion was  liked,  but  not  concluded.  He  also 
proposed  that  the  ministers,  who  were  differently 
maintained,  should  point  out  the  rule  most  agree- 
able to  the  gospel  for  the  manner  of  their  sup- 
port. This  they  prudently  dechned,  lest  their 
interested  concern  should  be  misconstrued.  Mr. 
Davenport  preached  an  appropriate  concluding 
sermon,  summing  up  the  purpose  and  results  of 
the  assembly,  on  the  text,  Philip,  iii.  16.  The 
expenses  of  the  members  of  the  assembly  were 
borne  by  public  charge,  as  were  those  of  the 
ministers  and  elders  who  came  from  Connecticut. 
The  12th  day  of  October  following  was  observed 
in  all  the  churches  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving,  for 
the  defeat  of  the  Pequots  and  the  success  of  the 
Synod ;  but  because  of  the  latter  designation,  many 
of  Boston  kept  away  from  the  exercises.  ^ 

Thus  ended  the  first  ecclesiastical  convention 
in  New  England,  an  occasion  which  but  few  of 
that  soil  would  now  number  among  its  historic 
honors,  though  in  moral  characteristics  it  certainly 
fell   not   one  whit  below  the  ancient  or  modern 


260 


AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 


councils  which  constitute  themselves  the  repre- 
sentatives of  Christ's  church.  In  one  sense  it 
wholly  failed  of  its  object ;  indeed,  it  failed  in 
ever}  other  sense,  save  in  that  it  deepened  the 
lines  and  raised  the  walls  of  division ;  and  by 
defining  where  the  balance  of  power  lay,  made 
preparation  for  the  subsequent  civil  proceedings, 
the  interference  of  temporal  power,  without  which 
an  ecclesiastical  tribunal  is  but  little  dreaded,  and 
accomplishes  even  less. 

The  writer  of  this  sketch  has,  by  good  fortune, 
fallen  upon  a  loose  paper  which  gives  evidence 
that  even  the  magistrates  and  ministers,  after 
due  deliberation,  cared  not  to  make  public  the 
journal  of  the  Synod.  This  paper  is  a  petition 
from  Mr.  John  Higginson,  son  of  the  Salem 
minister,  and  afterwards  of  Guilford,  Connecticut, 
by  which  it  appears  that  he  was  employed  by  the 
magistrates  and  ministers  to  take  down  in  short 
hand  all  the  debates  and  proceedings  of  the  Synod. 
He  performed  the  work  faithfully,  and  having 
written  out  the  voluminous  record,  "at  the  ex- 
pense of  much  time  and  pains,"  he  presented  it 
to  the  Court  in  May,  1639.  The  long  time  that 
elapsed  may  indicate  the  labor.  The  Court 
accepted  it,  and  ordered  that  if  approved  by  the 
ministers,  after  they  had  viewed  it,  it  should  be 
printed,    Mr     Higginson   being    entitled    to    the 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  261 

profits,  which  were  estimated  as  promising  a  hun- 
dred pounds.  The  writer  waited  with  patience 
while  his  brethren  examined  it,  and  freely  took 
their  advice.  Some  were  in  favor  of  printing  it ; 
but  others  advised  to  the  contrary,  "  conceiving  it 
might  possibly  be  an  occasion  of  further  disputes 
and  differences  both  in  this  country  and  other 
parts  of  the  world."  The  writer  himself  having 
scruples,  he  did  not  dare  to  print,  though  he  had 
an  offer  of  fifty  pounds,  but  delivered  it  to  the 
Court  again,  in  May  1641  ;  and  as  the  magistrates 
and  ministers  concluded  that  it  would  not  be 
wise  to  give  the  document  to  the  world,  he 
asked  for  remuneration,  and  modestly  hinted  at 
the  offer  of  fifty  pounds.  A  promise  was  made 
to  him,  that  the  case  should  be  considered  when 
the  treasury  was  in  better  condition.  He  re- 
newed his  petition  on  the  9th  of  August,  1643.* 
I  can  find  no  evidence  on  the  record  that  his 
labor  was  ever  remunerated  by  a  public  grant. 

*  This  petition  may  now  be  found  among  the  bound 
papers  in  the  State  House,  Boston,  in  the  first  volume 
of  papers  labelled  "  Ecclesiastical,"  p.   186. 


262  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY 


CHAPTER   VII. 

The  Contentions  increase.  —  Mrs.  Hutchinson  con- 
tinues her  Meetings.  —  The  Court  resolves,  upon 
favoring  Circumstances,  to  act  decisively.  —  The 
Remonstrance  from  the  Boston  Church. — Treat- 
ment of  the  Boston  Deputies.  —  Mr.  Wheelwright 
again  before  the  Court.  —  His  Examination  and 
Defence.  —  His  Sentence.  —  Action  of  the 
Court  against  several  Individuals  who  justified 
the  Remonstrance. 

New  developments  of  trouble  and  opposition 
continued  to  show  to  the  authorities  of  Massa- 
chusetts, if  they  would  but  have  seen  it,  the  sad 
impolicy  of  their  first  intermeddling  in  a  contro- 
versy, begun  in  the  sitting-room  of  a  nimble- 
witted  female,  and  engaged  with  the  abstrusities 
of  metaphysical  divinity.  Of  course  something 
of  pacification  might  have  been  looked  for,  as  the 
result  of  the  assembly,  had  its  deliberations  been 
pursued  with  moderation  and  concession.  Some 
effect  must  have  been  produced  upon  the  minds 
of  the  new  party,  who  acknowledged  the  rule 
of  church  organization.  But  Mrs.  Hutchinson's 
friends  had  been  driven  in  indignation  from  the 
assembly  at  its  very  opening  hour,  by  having 
their  views  slanderously,  as  they  thought,  turned 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  263 

out,  in  indiscriminate  confusion,  from  a  perfect 
dragnet  of  erroneous  and  unsavory  notions,  to 
which  any  scoffer  or  fanatic  might  contribute  one 
or  more.  She,  therefore,  with  Wheelwright  and 
her  other  zealous  friends,  though  "  clearly  con- 
futed and  confounded  in  the  assembly,"  still 
resolutely  maintained  all  her  expressed  opinions, 
and  added  to  them.  Her  disciples  used  all 
their  energies  to  propagate  her  sentiments,  in 
spite  of  the  bitter  ahenations  and  the  dire  con- 
fusion which  ensued,  and  though  they  knew  of 
the  reserved  force  by  which  the  magistrates 
could  back  their  ecclesiastical  decree.  Mr.  Cot- 
ton henceforward,  having  learned  better  the  spirit 
of  the  majority  of  his  flock,  or  foreseeing  ruin 
from  their  tendencies,  or  being  turned  from  some 
convictions  which  he  once  shared  with  them,  or 
making  a  sacrifice  of  principle  to  some  lower 
motive,  to  whatever  cause  charity  or  rigid  jus- 
tice may  ascribe  the  fact,  Mr.  Cotton  hencefor- 
ward ceased  to  be  the  adviser  or  the  advocate 
of  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  He  never  became  her  ene- 
my; nor,  as  far  as  can  be  discovered  now,  did 
any  one  who  was  ever  her  friend. 

Mrs.  Hutchinson  continued  her  meetings, 
and  Mr.  Wheelwright  his  preaching,  both  main- 
taining that  the  diflference  between  them  and 
their  opponents  was  as  wide  as  between  heaven 
and  hell;  and  their  friends  would  scornfully  turn 


264  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

their  backs  upon  any  preacher  of  a  "  covenant 
of  works."  Mr.  Wilson,  both  on  account  of 
his  place  and  his  views,  received  the  most  of 
this  insulting  treatment.  The  magistrates  and 
the  leaders  out  of  Boston  were  certainly  not 
unmindful  of  these  irritations,  though  they  chose 
to  find,  in  the  apprehensions  of  popular  tumult, 
and  even  of  public  hostilities,  a  reason  for  taking 
some  salutary  and  decisive  measures  just  at  this 
moment.  They  alleged  that  a  remedy  might 
soon  be  too  late,  and  they  were  favored  now 
by  a  peculiar  advantage,  if  they  could  reconcile 
it  to  their  consciences  to  use  it. 

Mr.  Welde  does  not  scruple  to  refer  the  oppor- 
tunity, now  presented  to  the  Court,  to  "  a  special 
providence."  Vane  was  expected,  according  to 
his  promise  once  given,  to  return,  but  his  pow- 
erful influence  was  now  withdrawn.  Cotton 
could  not  be  counted  upon  by  one  party  above 
the  other.  Many  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  friends, 
seeming  to  have  a  presentiment  of  what  await- 
ed them,  meditated  a  removal  from  the  juris- 
diction, and  had  gone  in  various  directions  to 
look  for  a  new  settlement.  The  Court  sitting  on 
the  2d  of  November,  1637,  resolved  to  make  the 
remonstrance,  which  had  been  hastily  drawn 
up  and  presented  by  more  than  sixty  members 
of  the  Boston  church,  after  the  judgment  against 
Wheelwright   on    the   9th   of  March   preceding, 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  265 

the  occasion  of  a  civil  process.  The  remon- 
strance or  petition,  Hke  the  sermon  which  it 
justified,  could  be  made  seditious  only  by  con- 
struction. The  violence  of  this  construction,  or 
at  least  the  forced  reasoning  which  detected  se- 
dition, will  serve  to  show  how  much  real  alarm 
of  tumult  existed,  or  how  determined  the  au- 
thorities were  to  put  down  the  agitators.  The 
remonstrance,  in  deprecating  the  charge  of  se- 
dition by  "  the  effects  of  Mr.  Wheelwright's 
doctrine  upon  the  hearers,"  said,  "  it  hath  not 
stirred  up  sedition  in  us,  not  so  much  as  by 
accident.  We  have  not  drawn  the  sword,  as 
sometimes  Peter  did,  rashly,  neither  have  we 
rescued  our  innocent  brother,  as  sometimes  the 
Israelites  did  Jonathan ;  and  yet  they  did  not 
seditiously."  These  allusions  the  Court  chose 
to  regard  as  tending  to  sedition,  as  suggesting 
sedition,  by  putting  disaffected  persons  in  mind 
that  it  was  possible  for  them  to  draw  the  sword, 
if  they  should  please  to  do  so. 

It  is  difficult  to  refrain  from  passing  a  most 
severe  censure  upon  the  whole  proceedings  of 
the  Court  in  reference  to  this  remonstrance.  If 
there  were  any  circumstances,  open  or  covert, 
which  at  the  time  could  offer  the  least  palliation 
for  the  measures  adopted,  they  have  escaped  the 
search  of  the  writer;  nor  can  it  be  behoved  that 
any  such  existed.     Failing  these,  the  Court  can- 


266  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

not  be  relieved  of  a  very  severe  judgment  vv^hen 
its  course  is  reviewed.  There  vv^ere  indeed  many 
passionate  expressions  of  dissatisfaction,  and  even 
of  defiance,  on  the  part  of  individuals ;  there 
may  have  been  also  intimations  of  a  breach  of 
the  civil  peace.  It  would  have  been  strange, 
if  the  heady  and  the  ill-advised  had  retained  a 
perfect  self-control  amid  such  intense  excite- 
ment as  at  this  season  prevailed.  But  no  single 
examples  of  contempt,  or  of  threatened  resistance 
to  authority,  can  be  admitted  as  a  justification 
of  the  tyrannical  measures  now  pursued.  In  fact, 
it  was  only  by  a  most  unwarranted  and  wholly 
unprecedented  departure  from  the  usual  forms 
observed  in  a  legislative  assembly,  that  the 
Court  now  in  session  could  make  any  use  of 
the  remonstrance.  It  had  been  presented,  not 
to  this  Court,  but  to  a  former  Court,  which  had 
met  on  the  9th  of  April,  preceding  by  seven 
months  the  present  session,  and  which  had  been 
presided  over  by  a  different  Governor,  and  com- 
posed of  different  members.  If  the  petition  or 
remonstrance  was  insulting,  the  Court  which  it 
insulted  was  the  proper  body  to  have  proceeded 
upon  it.  The  new  Court,  meeting  in  Novem- 
ber, had  nothing  more  to  do  with  it,  unless  it 
was  presented  anew,  (which  it  was  not,)  than 
had  any  other  court  which  has  met  in  Massa- 
chusetts from  that  day  to  this. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  267 

A  significant  hint  dropped  by  Mr.  Welde  may 
do  much  towards  explaining  the  unwonted  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Court.  He  says,  that  when  all 
the  various  means  had  been  applied  for  repress- 
ing the  opinions  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  "  this  was 
another  means  of  their  subduing,  some  of  the 
leaders  being  down,  and  others  gone."  This  is 
another  evidence,  that  the  return  of  Vane  to  Eng- 
land, and  "the  Special  Providence"  by  which 
some  of  the  disaffected  were  absent  seeking  a 
new  home,  enabled  the  Court  to  do  what  it  either 
could  not,  or  would  not  have  done,  under  dif- 
ferent circumstances.  It  seems  to  have  been 
well  understood,  at  this  time,  that  a  separation 
of  the  conflicting  elements  must,  in  some  way, 
be  brought  about.  The  Court  tasked  its  inge- 
nuity to  discover  that  way.  Indeed,  we  have 
good  authority  for  believing  that  Governor  Win- 
throp  had  sought  by  private  persuasion  to  bring 
about  the  end,  which  was  gained  by  arbitrary 
public  proceedings.  Winthrop  had  asked  Vane 
and  his  friends,  after  the  late  election,  to  move 
away  from  the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts,  and 
Roger  Williams  had  been  applied  to  for  the 
enlistment  of  his  services  in  providing  a  refuge 
for  ''  the  Antinomians."  * 

*  My  authority  for  this  assertion  is  Bailey^  who  says  in 
his  "Dissuasive  from  the  Errors  of  the  Times,"  pp.  63 
and  72,  that  Roger  Williams,  on  a  visit  to  England,  made 
this  statement  to  him. 


268  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Governor  Winthrop  likewise  overcharges  and 
misrepresents  the  remonstrance,  vv^hen  he  speaks 
of  it  as  containing  "divers  scandalous  and  se- 
ditious speeches."  *  The  document  is  respect- 
ful, and  even  deferential ;  nothing  could  be  more 
pertinent  to  the  occasion,  or  contain  less  of  irrel- 
evant matter.  More  than  sixty  names  of  male 
members  of  the  Boston  church  were  subscribed 
to  it,  and  it  was  besides  approved  by  some  who 
did  not  subscribe  it,  as  will  soon  appear.  Some 
of  the  signers  soon  withdrew  their  names,  either 
from  change  of  mind,  or  through  dread  of  con- 
sequences. Of  these  a  few  alleged,  that  the 
paper  had  been  presented  to  them  suddenly  in 
a  rough  state,  some  passages  being  apparently 
erased,  and  that  they  understood  that  it  was  not 
to  be  delivered  to  the  Court  without  the  ap- 
proval of  Mr.  Cotton,  which  it  did  not  have. 

Mr.  William  Aspinwall,  just  returned  to  the 
Court  as  one  of  the  representatives  of  Boston, 
had  written  the  remonstrance,  though  the  Court 
was  ignorant  of  this  fact  when  it  questioned 
him  for  having  signed  it.  He  fully  justified  the 
document,  and  was  at  once  dismissed.  Mr.  John 
Coggeshall,  another  Boston  representative,  and  a 
deacon  of  the  church,  had  not  signed  the  pe- 
tition ;  but  upon  the  ejectment  of  Aspinwall  he 
stoutly   told    the  Court  it   had   better    treat   him 

*  Winthrop,  Vol.  I.  p.  245. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  269 

in  the  same  way,  as  he  approved  the  remon- 
strance, and  had  already  put  his  name  to  a 
protest.  So  he  was  dismissed,  with  a  summons 
to  Boston  to  choose  two  new  representatives. 
Mr.  WiUiam  Coddington,  treasurer  of  the  colony, 
the  third  member  from  Boston,  then  presented 
a  protest  from  his  constituents  against  the  meas- 
ures pursued  in  reference  to  Mr.  Wheelwright, 
and  the  alien  law,  forbidding  residence,  already 
referred  to.  This  led  to  a  review  of  the  pro- 
ceedings and  a  justification  of  them  all ;  and 
the  papers  growing  out  of  the  alien  law,  which 
had  been  kept  in  during  the  Synod,  were  made 
public* 

The  Boston  people  assembled  in  indignation, 
and  were  about  returning  to  the  Court  the  two 
deputies  who  had  just  been  rejected,  the  voters 
being  then  the  church  members  only.  But  Mr. 
Cotton  interfered,  knowing  what  tumult  must 
have  followed,  and  he  prevented  their  intention. 
Of  the  two  members  who  were  returned,  how- 
ever, one  was  an  earnest  disciple  of  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson, and  had  also  signed  the  petition ;  and  as 
he  justified  it  when  questioned,  the  Court  dis- 
missed him  likewise,  with  a  warrant  for  another 
choice,  to  which  the  Boston  church  members  gave 
no  heed. 

*  These  papers  are  the  same  as  are  noticed  above,  on 
page  245. 


270  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Mr.  Wheelwright,  the  great  champion  of  Mrs. 
Hutchinson,  and,  as  such,  the  prominent  repre- 
sentative of  her  party,  was  then  called  before  the 
Court  for  a  final  and  decisive  action  on  his  case. 
There  was  a  fixed  purpose  on  the  part  of  the 
government,  either  to  bring  him  to  an  apology 
and  recantation,  or  to  clear  the  jurisdiction  of 
his  presence.  This  being  the  determined  end 
at  which  all  the  measures  aimed,  it  must  have 
given  a  character  to  all  the  proceedings,  though 
it  would  appear  that  Wheelwright  was  treated 
with  all  the  scanty  forbearance  and  moderation, 
which  would  consist  with  the  purpose  of  the 
Court.  He  was  reminded  that  some  time  had 
passed  since  a  judgment  had  been  found  against 
him,  as  guilty  of  sedition  and  contempt ;  and  that 
sentence  had  been  deferred  from  Court  to  Court, 
in  the  hope  that  he  would  either  change  his  mind, 
or  submit  to  its  decision.  He  replied,  that  he 
was  innocent  of  sedition  or  contempt ;  that  he 
had  preached  nothing  but  the  truth  of  Christ, 
and  that  the  dangerous  application  of  his  doc- 
trine was  made  by  others,  not  by  himself. 

The  Court,  in  its  expostulation  with  him,  went 
very  fully  and  particularly  into  a  detail  of  the 
grievances,  which  had  followed  upon  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson's teachings,  and  his  own  support  of  her 
views.  He  had  in  his  sermon,  as  was  alleged, 
pointed  very  significantly  to  the  magistrates  and 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON, 


271 


the  ministers  of  the  colony,  as  being  under  a 
covenant  of  works ;  he  had  put  an  evil  mark 
upon  them;  had  lowered  the  esteem  of  the  peo- 
ple for  them ;  though,  by  conference  with  them, 
he  had  previously  been  informed  of  the  false 
and  insulting  character  of  his  aspersions. 

What  added,  in  the  view  of  the  Court,  to  the 
objectionable  character  of  the  sermon,  was,  that 
it  wholly  omitted  all  note  of  the  occasions  for 
which  the  day  had  been  set  apart.  Mr.  Cotton 
had  performed  the  regular  afternoon  exercises, 
when  Mr.  Wheelwright,  as  he  had  probably  been 
previously  informed  that  he  should  be,  was  called 
upon  "to  exercise  as  a  private  brother,"  and  he 
by  this  sermon  directly  opposed  the  impression 
of  Mr.  Cotton's  sermon,  which  was  an  attempt 
to  pacify  and  soothe  the  excited  feelings  of  the 
people.  He  and  his  sister  had  entirely  subverted 
the  "peaceable  and  comely  order"  of  the  col- 
ony ;  they  had  excluded  from  admission  to  church 
communion  all,  who  could  not  claim  the  witness 
of  an  immediate  revelation  for  their  justification, 
and  had  brought  those  in  the  church  who  dif- 
fered from  them  into  disesteem ;  they  had  di- 
vided families,  and  alienated  friends,  and  had 
impeded  the  success  of  the  war  against  the  Pe- 
quots;  they  had  extolled  the  former  Governor,  and 
some  of  the  magistrates,  as  friends  of  free  grace, 


272  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

and  had  defamed  the  present  Governor  and  ma- 
gistrates as  persecutors  and  antichrists  ;  the  con- 
sequence of  which  was,  that  Governor  Winthrop 
was  openly  insulted,  and  that  not  even  a  town 
meeting  could  be  held  without  railing  speeches. 
Reference  was  then  made  to  the  means,  which 
the  Court  had  used  to  win  Wheelwright  from 
his  opinions  and  course,  the  numerous  confer- 
ences, the  Synod,  and  a  declaration  put  forth 
by  the  Court,  which  he  had  not  even  conde- 
scended to  read.  The  conclusion  of  this  ex- 
postulation was,  that  all  "  troublers  of  famihes  " 
should  be  driven  out,  as  were  "  Cain,  Hagar,  and 
Ishmael;"  and  that  the  claims  of  justice  and 
peace  made  this  course  all  the  more  necessary 
in  the  present  case,  because,  as  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son's party  had  asserted,  the  difference  between 
them  and  their  opponents  was  as  wide  as  that 
between  heaven  and  hell.  Night  came  on  while 
the  Court  in  vain  endeavored  to  bring  Wheel- 
wright to  admit  his  alleged  errors.  The  busi- 
ness was  entered  upon  the  next  day,  when  he 
found  some  few  supporters,  and  again  denied 
the  charge  of  direct  or  indirect  sedition.  He 
was  finally  sentenced  to  be  disfranchised  and 
banished  from  the  jurisdiction,  as  "guilty  for 
troubling  the  civil  peace,  both  for  his  seditious 
sermon,  and  for  his  corrupt  and  dangerous  opin- 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  273 

ions,  and  for  his  contemptuous  [i.  e.  unyield- 
ing] behavior  in  divers  courts  formerly,  and  now 
obstinately  maintaining  and  justifying  his  said 
errors  and  oifences."  * 

Mr.  Wheelwright  was  ordered  to  be  kept  in 
safe  custody,  and  to  give  security  for  his  de- 
parture. The  Court  refused  to  accept  his  appeal 
to  the  King,  and  he  in  turn  refused  to  enter  into 
recognizances  for  his  quiet  departure.  The  next 
morning,  however,  he  withdrew  his  appeal,  and 
offered  to  accept  of  simple  banishment,  though 
he  would  not  promise  to  refrain  from  preaching, 
as  the  Court  required,  during  the  interval  extend- 
ing to  the  close  of  March  ensuing,  which  was  the 
date  fixed  for  his  removal,  after  the  severity  of 
the  winter  should  be  passed.  He  was  at  last 
allowed  to  return  to  his  own  home,  upon  his 
promise  that  if  he  did  not  leave  the  jurisdiction 
within  fourteen  days,  he  would  surrender  himself 
as  a  prisoner  to  a  magistrate. 

It  is  some  relief  to  the  disagreeable  detail  of 
the  proceedings  of  this  Court,  in  its  condemnation 
of  Mr.  Wheelwright,  to  be  able  to  record  the 
fact  that  the  decision  against  him  was  not  unani- 
mous. Some  of  the  magistrates  and  deputies  did 
not  concur,  and  requested  that  their  dissent  from 
the  majority  might  be  entered  in  the  Court  book. 

*  Welde's  Short  Stoiy,  p.  26. 
VOL.    VI.  18 


274  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Their  request  was  refused,  on  the  ground  that 
such  a  course  was  unusual  and  unallowable. 
The  disaffected  minority  then  offered  a  protest, 
which  was  likewise  refused,  because  it  justified 
Mr.  Wheelwright  as  a  faithful  minister,  and  con- 
demned the  Court.  They  were  finally  allowed 
merely  to  copy  the  record  of  the  sentence,  and 
to  subjoin  to  it  their  names,  as  dissenting,  without 
passing  any  reflection  upon  the  act  of  the  ma- 
jority. Indeed,  there  was  a  large  number  of 
dissentients  in  and  out  of  the  Court,  and  it  was 
found  necessary  to  issue  an  apology  for  its 
proceedings. 

Before  passing  from  the  brother  to  the  sister, 
Mrs.  Hutchinson,  the  Court  proceeded  to  deal 
with  those  who  had  put  their  hands  to,  or  approv- 
ed of,  the  offensive  remonstrance.  Deacon  Cogges- 
hall  was  called  to  account  for  several  troublesome 
and  reproachful  deeds  and  words,  and  stood 
strenuously  for  liberty  and  justice.  A  large  num- 
ber of  the  Court  wished  to  banish  him,  but  he 
escaped  with  an  admonition. 

William  Aspinwall  was  next  put  under  exam- 
ination. The  Court  had  discovered,  since  last 
dealing  with  him,  that  he  had  drawn  up  the  re- 
monstrance, which,  as  it  originally  came  from 
his  hand,  contained  many  more  offensive  passages, 
that  were  stricken  out.  He  still  justified  it  with 
manliness   and   plainness,   alleging   the    right   of 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  275 

petition  in  general,  and  the  examples  of  Mephib- 
osheth  and  Esther  in  particular.  He  would  have 
escaped  with  the  same  punishment  as  Deacon 
Coggeshall,  but  for  the  aggravation  of  his  "  per- 
emptory speeches,"  which  drew  upon  him  disfran- 
chisement and  banishment  at  the  close  of  the 
ensuing  March.  Two  of  the  sergeants  of  Boston, 
William  Baulston,  and  Edward  Hutchinson,  son 
of  the  prophetess,  who  had  neglected  to  do  Win- 
throp  the  honor  they  had  done  to  Vane,  and  were 
prominent  in  the  strife  of  words,  were  fined  and 
disfranchised.  Thomas  Marshall,  the  Cambridge 
ferryman,  who  about  this  time  must  have  had  a 
brisk  business,  justified  the  petition,  though  with 
more  mildness,  and  he  escaped  with  losing  his 
place  and  being  disfranchised.  William  Dinely 
and  William  Dyer,  for  the  same  offence,  were  dis- 
franchised, as  was  also  Richard  Gridley,  "  an 
honest,  poor  man,  but  very  apt  to  meddle  in 
public  affairs  beyond  his  calling  or  skill."  *  Thus 
the  way  was  prepared  for  civil  proceedings  against 
her,  who  "  had  been  the  breeder  and  nourisher 
of  all  these  distempers." 

*  Welde's  ShoH  Story,  p.  31. 


276  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

The  Trial  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  before  the  Court  of 
Massachusetts.  —  The  Magistrates  and  Minis- 
ters. —  Proceedings.  —  The  Charges  against  her. 

—  Her  Replies.  —  Her  Assemblies.  —  Her  Con- 
tempt of  the  Ministers.  — Their  Evidence.  — Her 
^^  Revelations j^''  her   Condemnation  and  Sentence. 

—  Captain  Underhill  disfranchised. —  Order  for 
disarming  the  Majority  of  the  Boston  Church.  — 
Wint hr op  impugned ;  his  Vindication. — Proceed- 
ings in  the  Roxbury   Church.  —  New  Heresies, 

The  trial  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  before  the  Court 
of  Massachusetts,  meeting  at  Cambridge  in  No- 
vember, 1637,  will  be  allowed  by  most  readers  to 
have  been  one  of  the  most  shameful  proceedings 
recorded  in  the  annals  of  Protestantism.  In 
what  respect  it  differed,  save  in  the  lightness  of 
its  penalty,  from  the  trials  instituted  by  the  Inqui- 
sition, it  would  be  very  difficult  to  say.  If  the 
judgment  of  posterity,  concerning  her  character 
and  course,  were  to  depend  solely  upon  the  report 
of  her  case  when  before  her  judges,  she  would 
stand  clear  of  all  imputations  as  well  for  the 
matter  as  for  the  manner  of  her  heresy.  One 
may  well  hesitate  whether  he  should  describe  the 
process   against   her   as  a  civil,  a  judicial,  or  an 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  277 

ecclesiastical  process.  It  is  evident,  that  all  the 
personalities  with  which  she  may  have  been 
chargeable,  in  the  expression  of  her  views,  were 
more  than  returned  upon  her  in  the  revenge  of 
the  wounded  pride  of  her  principal  opponents. 

With  all  the  allowances  which  charity  can 
devise,  from  the  prevailing  spirit  of  the  times, 
from  the  generally  allowed  principle  of  mutual 
responsibility  for  opinions,  from  the  private  jeal- 
ousies which  had  been  aroused,  from  the  appre- 
hension of  the  licentious  and  revolutionary  out- 
rages that  had  attended  in  Germany  the  expres- 
sion of  opinions  kindred,  as  was  believed,  to  those 
of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  ;  with  full  allowances  for  all 
these  reasonable  suggestions,  the  treatment  of 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  on  her  trial  deserves  the 
severest  epithets  of  censuie.  The  united  civil 
wisdom  and  Christian  piety  of  the  fathers  of 
Massachusetts  make  but  a  sorry  figure,  as  rep- 
resented in  a  picture  of  the  same  offered  by 
history  to  the  imagination.  Whatever  may  be 
said  in  palliation  of  the  rigid  measures  of  the 
Court  against  the  men,  who  sided  with  Mrs. 
Hutchinson,  against  Greensmith,  against  the 
signers  and  the  approvers  of  the  remonstrance, 
against  the  Boston  representatives,  and  against 
the  idol,  Wheelwright,  the  Court  had  done 
enough  for  security  and    enough  for  vengeance. 

But  here  was  now  a  woman   in  the  case,  and 


27S  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

the  opposition  to  her  rested  entirely  on  a  dis- 
like of  her  opinions.  The  Court  doubtless,  under 
other  circumstances,  would  have  left  all  further 
proceedings  to  the  church  of  which  she  was 
a  member,  and  would  have  stopped  short  of  its 
extreme  inflictions  upon  those,  who  had  received 
sentence  before  her,  committing  them  also  to 
the  dealing  of  the  church.  But  the  church  it- 
self had  gone  astray  ;  its  judgment  was  already 
pronounced  loudly  and  heartily  in  support  of  all 
the  obnoxious  parties.  The  church  was  like- 
wise to  be  censured  through  the  penalties  in- 
flicted upon  its  members.  The  matter  in  hand 
now  was  in  fact  no  other,  than  to  employ  the 
combined  authority  of  the  towns  around  Boston, 
with  their  ministers,  against  the  heretical  and 
seditious  church  of  the  metropolis.  The  last 
scene  in  the  long  protracted  strife  was  to  be 
enacted,  and  the  whole  country  was  on  tiptoe 
to  watch  its  development,  and  to  approve  or 
condemn  the  result.  The  oracle  of  the  new 
party  was  at  the  bar. 

All  the  magistrates,  or  assistants,  the  upper 
house,  representing  the  judicial  and  executive 
authority  of  the  government,  took  part  in  the 
trial.  Governor  Winthrop  was  called  by  his  of- 
fice to  perform  the  principal  work  in  the  pros- 
ecution, to  which  his  feelings  and  convictions 
likewise   would   lead    him.      He    thoroughly    un- 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  279 

derstood  the  whole  ground  of  the  controver- 
sy. His  was  no  blind  or  passionate  opposition. 
From  the  very  beginning  of  the  strife  he  had 
foreseen  its  tendency,  and  had  then  employed 
the  means  which  a  high-minded  and  a  Christian 
man  might  use  to  check  its  progress.  He  was  a 
perfect  master  of  the  Scriptures,  and  well  read  in 
the  polemical  divinity  of  his  time.  Nor  does  he 
appear  to  have  been  actuated  in  the  least  degree 
by  the  personal  grievances  and  slights,  of  which 
he  could  not  but  have  been  sensible  that  he  had 
suffered  a  large  share.  An  expression  of  re- 
gard, which  was  afterwards  made  to  him  by  the 
church,  when  calmness  and  union  were  re- 
stored, is  a  significant  testimony  that  when  the 
alienation  was  at  its  height,  he  led  the  powerless 
opposition  of  four  members  with  a  dignified  and 
honest  front.  He  was  considerate  of  the  rights 
of  his  teacher,  Mr.  Cotton,  but  gave  even  him 
to  understand  that  he  was  no  keeper  of  the 
consciences  of  his  hearers.  We  are  bound, 
therefore,  to  regard  the  course  pursued  by  Win- 
throp  as  strictly  conscientious.  He  had  at  stake 
his  whole  estate,  his  dearest  convictions,  his 
high-wrought  hopes  for  the  wilderness  colony. 
He  thought  that  the  truth  of  God  and  Christ, 
the  interests  of  a  sound  theology  and  a  pure 
morality,  of  peace  among  brethren,  and  of  safe- 
ty   to   the    Commonwealth,    depended    upon    the 


280  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

great  issue  now  to  be  decided.  The  sense  o! 
his  official  responsibihty,  as  a  "nursing-father  "  of 
the  colony,  was  deep  and  pure. 

Deputy-Governor  Dudley  was  a  man  of  a 
more  rigid  temper,  and  of  a  less  considerate 
piety,  than  Winthrop.  He  had  not  that  inter- 
est in  technical  theology  which  the  Governor 
possessed,  and  saw  not  so  well  the  bearings  of 
the  controversy.  There  was  no  hearty  concord 
between  the  two  officials  in  any  other  matter 
of  public  concern ;  but  in  their  views  of  Mrs. 
Hutchinson's  course  they  agreed.  Dudley,  as 
already  stated,  had  endeavored  to  delay  her  ad- 
mission to  the  church,  on  account  of  the  sus- 
picions of  her  views,  which  had  been  imparted 
to  him,  and,  with  his  wonted  sternness,  he  did 
what  he  probably  supposed  he  ought  to  do  on 
her  trial. 

Endicott,  Bradstreet,  Harlakenden,  Stoughton, 
and  Nowell,  used  their  influence  against  Mrs. 
Hutchinson.  They  put  questions  to  her,  pro- 
nounced censures  upon  her,  and  expatiated  upon 
the  dissension  and  mischief,  which  had  attend- 
ed her  during  her  residence  in  Boston. 

William  Coddington  alone,  of  the  magistrates, 
sustained  the  defendant.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
influence,  which  he  deserved  by  true  worth.  His 
occasional  expressions  looked  all  along  to  a  wise 
indulgence  and   charity;  at  the  end   he   plainly 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  281 

and  cogently  avowed  his  dissent  from  the  con- 
demnation of  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  and  questioned 
the  poHcy  and  justice  of  the  proceedings.  He 
did  not  attempt  to  sheUer  her  from  all  blame 
of  indiscretion  or  error.  He  was  her  friend,  but 
not  one  of  her  worshippers ;  and  though,  greatly 
to  his  own  present  detriment,  he  espoused  her 
cause,  and  followed  her  into  banishment,  he 
doubtless    understood    her    weaknesses. 

While  the  magistrates,  with  but  one  excep- 
tion, gave  no  favor  to  the  defendant,  the  depu- 
ties or  representatives  afforded  but  two  or  three 
to  offer  her  any  countenance,  and  they  were 
at  once  silenced. 

The  ministers  then  in  Massachusetts  were 
probably  all  present  at  the  Court,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  perhaps  two  or  three  in  the  more 
distant  settlements.  The  ministers  were  indeed 
the  informers  and  the  witnesses  against  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  ;  it  was  by  their  evidence  that  ground 
of  conviction  was  to  be  obtained.  Cotton  and 
Wilson  of  Boston,  Symmes  of  Charlestown,  Eliot 
and  Welde  of  Roxbury,  Shepherd  of  Cambridge, 
Peters  of  Salem,  and  Phillips  of  Watertown,  with 
some  of  the  ruling  elders  of  the  churches,  are 
mentioned.  Deacon  Coggeshall  and  Elder  Lev- 
erett,  of  Boston,  endeavored  to  befriend  the  de- 
fendant. Mr.  Cotton  once  or  twice  interposed 
in  her   favor,   and,  when   questioned,  made  cer- 


282  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

tain  distinctions  in  her  behalf,  which  reheved  the 
charges  against  her.  Mr.  Shepherd  spoke  some 
pacificatory  words. 

The  other  ministers,  smarting  under  the  di-  j 
rect  or  indirect  reproaches  which  Mrs.  Hutch-  ' 
inson  was  generally  understood  to  have  spoken 
against  them,  were  determined  to  insure  her 
humiliation.  They  felt  that  their  honor,  their 
influence,  and  their  claims  to  piety  were  at 
hazard.  The  controversy  she  had  raised  had 
indeed  offered  its  most  goading  annoyances 
to  them.  They  felt  that  they  had  given  all 
possible  assurance  of  devotion  to  Christ,  and 
to  the  religious  welfare  of  their  several  flocks. 
They  were  set  as  teachers  over  those  who,  like 
themselves,  had  left  pleasant  homes  under  the 
impulse  of  a  self-denying  faith,  and  now  their 
ministry  had  fallen  into  disesteem,  and  they 
themselves  were  sensibly  depreciated  in  the  re- 
gard and  reverence  of  those,  who  once  professed 
to  owe  them  the  sincerest  gratitude.  The  prime 
mover  of  the  waters  of  bitterness  was  now  before 
them,  to  be  publicly  proceeded  against ;  and  her 
judges  were  men. 

Mr.  Peters,  Mr.  Welde,  and  Mr.  Symmes, 
urged  the  charges  against  the  accused  with  the 
most  directness,  and  these  three  had  felt  espe- 
cially aggrieved  at  her  general  censure  of  those 
who  preached  a  covenant  of  works.     Set  upon 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  283 

as  she  was  continually,  whenever  a  private  or 
pubHc  opportunity  had  been  offered  her,  she  un- 
doubtedly had  used  words  which  she  had  for- 
gotten, and  for  which  she  ought  not  to  have 
been  called  into  account.  It  would  have  been 
strange  if  she  had  not  given  offence  to  one  or 
another  of  the  brethren,  who  were  frequently  in 
disputation  with  her.  Some  of  these  private  in- 
terviews were  remembered  and  put  to  use. 

The  Court  sat  with  open  doors,  and  the  whole 
case  was  watched  with  the  most  intense  anx- 
iety through  the  two  days  which  were  spent 
upon  it.  Such  was  the  tribunal  before  which 
a  female  of  undoubted  piety,  and  of  high  ex- 
cellence of  character,  was  held  to  account  for 
maintaining  certain  theological  opinions  distaste- 
ful to  those,  to  whom  she  was  in  no  wise  ac- 
countable for  her  belief.  She  was  even  kept 
for  a  time  in  a  standing  posture,  until  her  evi- 
dent bodily  infirmity  obtained  for  her  the  privi- 
lege of  sitting.  The  examination  must  have 
been  extremely  wearisome,  and  even  Mr.  Dud- 
ley complained  that  they  would  all  be  sick  from 
fasting. 

The  proceedings  began  with  a  somewhat  ex- 
tended colloquy  between  Governor  Winthrop 
and  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  in  which  she  sustained 
herself  with  great  dignity,  and  met,  with  strong 
good    sense    in   reply,  the    charges   which    were 


284  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

laid  at  her  door.  Her  husband  does  not  ap- 
pear in  the  proceedings,  though  he  might  have 
been  present,  unless  he  was  one  of  those  al- 
ready mentioned  as  being  absent  on  an  ex- 
ploring search  for  a  place  of  refuge  in  case  of 
necessity. 

The  Governor  opened  the  disagreeable  busi- 
ness, by  addressing  Mrs.  Hutchinson  as  a  dis- 
turber of  the  peace  of  the  Commonwealth  and 
of  the  churches  ;  and  then,  without  specifying 
any  single  offence,  of  such  a  nature  and  so 
substantiated  as  to  subject  her  to  a  civil  pen- 
alty, he  heaped  upon  her  an  accumulation  of 
censures.  He  said  she  was  known  to  have  had 
a  principal  share  in  promoting  and  divulging  the 
opinions,  which  had  caused  so  much  trouble; 
that  she  was  nearly  connected  by  affinity  and 
sympathy  with  those  already  censured ;  that  she 
had  defamed  the  churches  and  ministers  of  the 
jurisdiction ;  that  she  had  maintained  a  meet- 
ing and  an  assembly  at  her  house,  which  was 
neither  tolerable  nor  comely  in  the  sight  of  God, 
nor  fitting  for  her  sex;  and  that,  though  the 
Synod  had  denounced  such  meetings,  she  still 
persisted  in  holding  them.  On  the  strength  of 
these  charges,  the  Governor  stated  that  the  Court 
had  sent  for  her  to  inquire  into  her  case,  that 
she  might  either  be  turned  into  the  right  way 
and  made  a  profitable  member,  or  if  she  should 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  285 

prove  obstinate  in  her  course,  that  she  might 
be  restrained  from  causing  any  further  trouble. 
She  was  then  asked  whether  she  assented  to 
the  factious  and  heretical  practices  and  opinions 
aheady  proceeded  against,  and  whether  she  did 
not  justify  Mr.  Wheelwright's  sermon  and  the 
remonstrance. 

Mrs.  Hutchinson  replied,  that,  though  she  was 
called  to  answer,  no  distinct  charges  were  brought 
against  her.  The  Governor  said  he  had  brought 
many.  She  desired  that  some  one  fault  in 
speech  or  in  deed  might  be  specified,  and  when 
the  Governor  fixed  upon  her  having  countenanced 
factious  persons,  she  said  that  it  was  matter  of 
conscience  for  her  to  entertain  saints.  The  Gov- 
ernor alleged  that  her  sympathy  with  the  signers 
of  the  petition  was  a  breach  of  the  fifth  com- 
mandment, which  required  that  honor  should  be 
given  to  parents,  and  magistrates  were  parents. 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  defended  herself  by  suggest- 
ing, that  parents  and  magistrates  were  to  be 
honored  conditionally,  that  is,  ''  in  the  Lord," 
and  that,  if  she  feared  the  Lord  and  her  parents, 
she  might  entertain  others  who  feared  the  Lord, 
though  her  parents  should  forbid  her.  Win- 
throp  said  he  did  not  wish  to  discourse  with 
one  of  her  sex,  and  so  he  recurred  to  the  gen- 
eral grievance,   that  she  had  advanced  the  fac- 


286  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

tion,  and  dishonored  the  government.     This  she 
peremptorily  denied. 

The  Governor  then  shifted  the  charge  to  the 
meetings  which  she  had  kept  at  her  house.  She 
replied,  that  this  practice  vi^as  as  lawful  to  her 
as  any  of  their  practices  were  to  them,  and  that 
the  reason  for  her  adopting  it  was,  that,  on  her 
coming  to  the  country,  she  was  censured  as 
proud  by  a  friend,  who  observed  that  she  did 
not  attend  the  meetings  of  like  character  then 
established.  It  was  answered,  that  the  previous 
meetings  were  not  offensive,  and  were  not  com- 
posed exclusively  of  women;  but  that  hers  were 
of  another  sort,  and  that  she  sometimes  had  had 
men  present.  The  last  statement  she  positively 
denied,  and  urged  that  she  found  a  clear  rule 
for  her  meetings  in  the  injunction  of  Paul  to 
Titus,  '*that  the  elder  women  should  instruct 
the  younger."  The  Governor  rejoined,  that  the 
rule  might  apply  to  more  private  teaching,  and 
the  accused  met  his  plea  by  asking,  what  au- 
thority she  had  for  rejecting  any  one  who  should 
come  to  her  for  religious  counsel.  Mr.  En- 
dicott  here  put  in  a  word,  that  the  custom  which 
she  found  existing  in  Boston  was  not  enough  to 
justify  her.  She  still  clung  to  the  rule  of  Paul 
to  Titus.  The  Governor  said  that  no  one  rule 
must  cross  another,  and   that  this,  as  she  inter- 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  287 

preted  it,  did  cross  anotlier  Scripture  rule,  from 
the  union  ot  which  she  would  be  justified  only 
in  instructing  the  younger  women  about  their 
business,  and  to  love  their  husbands,  instead  of 
making  them  clash.  She  insisted  that  the  rule 
would  cover  public  occasions. 

It  soon  appeared,  in  answer  to  a  question  from 
the  Deputy-Governor,  that  there  were  two  meet- 
ings at  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  house,  one  composed 
exclusively  of  women,  and  the  other  of  men  and 
women,  though  at  the  latter,  "the  teaching  was 
always  done  by  the  men."  The  meetings  were 
not  uninterrupted  in  their  succession,  but,  on 
occasions  were  deferred. 

The  Governor  summed  up  the  grievances  from 
this  charge,  by  saying,  that  her  course  in  these 
meetings  was  greatly  prejudicial  to  the  peace 
of  the  state ;  that  her  opinions  were  contrary 
to  the  word  of  God,  and  had  seduced  many 
simple  persons  who  resorted  to  her ;  that  the 
late  disturbances  in  the  Commonwealth  and  the 
churches  had  been  caused  entirely  by  her  fol- 
lowers ;  that  it  was  not  right  that  families  should 
be  neglected  for  so  many  meetings,  and  that 
no  individual  might  set  up  an  assembly  in  ad- 
dition to  those  already  established.  She  replied, 
that  they  had  authority  to  put  down  her  meet- 
ings, and  that  she  would  freely  yield  to  au- 
thority as  far  as  she  herself  was  concerned,  but 


288  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

that  she  did  not  yet  see  Ught  to  deny  the  priv- 
ilege to  others. 

This  matter  of  the  meetings  being  disposed 
of,  the  trial  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  turned  upon 
two  points,  the  first  being  her  alleged  abuse  of 
the  ministers,  and  the  second,  her  "  revelations." 
It  was  by  the  latter  that  she  was  condemned; 
,  and  she  herself  introduced  the  subject,  though 
the  Court  would  have  been  led  to  it,  if  she 
had    not. 

Deputy-Governor  Dudley  opened  the  main 
topic  of  discord.  He  said  that,  about  three  years 
before,  there  was  peace,  and  that  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son had  broken  it;  that,  on  her  landing,  he  had 
received  such  information  concerning  her,  as 
led  him,  through  the  pastor  and  teacher  of  the 
church,  to  institute  an  inquiry  into  her  opin- 
ions, with  the  result  of  which  he  was  at  the 
time  satisfied ;  that,  within  six  months  she  had 
'^vented  her  opinions,"  and  made  parties  in  the 
country ;  and  that,  claiming  some  of  great  in- 
fluence on  her  side,  she  had  said  that  all  the 
ministers,  save  Mr.  Cotton,  preached  nothing 
but  a  covenant  of  works. 

The  point  thus  raised  was  evidently  the  sorest 
and  most  tender  which  the  whole  controversy 
covered.  It  appeared,  that  at  the  conference 
which  the  ministers,  at  an  early  stage  of  the 
troubles,  had  sought  with  Mr.  Cotton  at  his  house, 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  289 

Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  called  in.  She  thought 
herself  among  friends,  holding  private  and  free 
discourse  under  the  protection  of  a  general 
desire  for  kind  and  candid  utterance.  By  her 
statement  of  what  she  clearly  remembered,  on 
the  trial,  we  gather,  that  she  was  questioned  at 
that  conference  as  to  the  alleged  difference  which 
she  had  discovered  between  the  preaching  of 
Mr.  Cotton  and  the  preaching  of  the  other  min- 
isters. She  said  that  she  was  at  first  reserved 
and  silent ;  but  as  Mr.  Peters  kindly  urged  open- 
ness and  hearty  sincerity,  she  bethought  herself 
that  she  ought  not  to  be  influenced  by  the  fear 
of  man,  and  she  uttered  herself  freely.  She 
insisted,  before  the  Court,  that  her  expressions 
in  the  friendly  conference  were  to  this  effect, 
that  the  ministers  did  not  preach  a  covenant  of 
grace  so  clearly,  so  distinctly,  so  positively,  as 
did  Mr.  Cotton,  and  that  they  preached  a  cov- 
enant of  works,  something  like  the  method  and 
views  of  the  apostles,  before  they  had  received, 
at  the  feast  of  Pentecost,  a  more  complete  knowl- 
edge of  the  spiritual  mysteries  of  the^  Christian 
religion. 

All  the  wounded  and  irritated  feelings  of  the 
ministers  were  brought  to  bear  upon  their  testi- 
mony, that  Mrs.  Hutchinson  had  spoken  more 
and  differently  at  the  conference.  She  urged 
the  supposed  privacy  and  friendliness  of  the  inter- 

VOL.    VI.  19 


290  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

view ;  she  complained  that  the  informers  were 
the  witnesses  ;  she  required  that  they  should  be 
put  under  oath,  and  said  that  her  statement 
would  be  sustained  by  a  reference  to  the  notes  of 
the  conversation,  which  had  been  taken  by  Mr. 
Wilson.  The  evidence  of  six  of  the  ministers 
went  to  show,  that  she  had  said  freely  before  them 
all  more  than  she  now  allowed,  and  Mr.  Wil- 
son stated  that  his  notes  were  very  incom- 
plete. They  affirmed,  three  of  them  being  put 
under  oath,  that  she  had  said  that  the  other 
ministers  were  not  able  ministers  of  the  New 
Testament,  because  they  were  not  sealed,  and 
that  they  were  under,  not  merely  that  they 
preached,  a  covenant  of  works.  Mr.  Symmes 
alleged  how  he  had  been  troubled  by  her  on 
the  passage.  Mr.  Phillips,  of  Watertown,  said 
she  had  included  him  under  her  condemnation, 
though  she  had  never  heard  him.  Mr.  Shepherd, 
of  Cambridge,  said  she  told  him,  after  listening  to 
his  lecture,  that  he  '^  was  not  sealed,"  but  he 
was  willing  to  regard  her  error  as  a  slip  of  the 
tongue. 

There  was  much  discussion  in  the  Court  about 
putting  the  ministers  under  oath,  but  the  defend- 
ant insisted  strenuously  upon  it,  as  she  pertinent- 
ly corrected  them  concerning  a  quotation  from 
Scripture  which  they  said  she  had  used,  and  con- 
sidered that  her  memory  was  as  good  as  all  theirs 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  291 

combined.  The  oath  was  allowed,  on  the  ground 
that  it  would  better  satisfy  the  country  at  large. 
Doubtless  both  parties  were  fully  persuaded  of 
the  truth  of  their  several  representations,  for  it 
was  a  matter  concerning  which  there  might  easily 
be  a  mistake.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  acknowledged 
that  in  "  an  hour's  discourse  at  the  window," 
with  Mr.  Welde,  she  might  have  said  that  the 
other  ministers  were  not  '^able  ministers  of  the 
New  Testament,"  probably  using  the  phrase 
as  a  Scripture  quotation,  implying  that  "  thor- 
ough-furnishing"  for  the  work  of  the  ministry 
which  any  one,  in  her  opinion,  might  lack,  who 
was  deficient  in  some  spiritual  assurance.  Mr. 
Cotton,  on  being  called  upon  to  testify  as  to  what 
he  remembered  of  the  interview,  took  a  place  by 
the  side  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  and  reluctantly  com- 
plied. He  said  he  was  saddened  and  sorry  to 
hear  her  assent,  at  the  interview,  to  the  charge 
brought  against  her  by  his  brethren,  as  having  rec- 
ognized a  difference  in  their  preaching,  and  that, 
when  she  was  pressed  to  state  what  that  diflference 
was,  she  made  it  a  gradual  diflference,  one  of  de- 
grees, in  that  the  other  ministers  did  not  preach 
free  grace  so  clearly  as  did  he,  and  likened  the 
ministers  to  the  apostles  before  their  inspiration. 
Mr.  Cotton  came  into  a  collision  with  the  min- 
isters, and  it  is  evident  that  there  was  much 
smothered    feeling.      Mr.   Coddington    affirmed, 


292  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

that,  even  if  she  said  all  that  was  attributed  to 
her,  no  harm  was  done ;  and  he  implied  that  the 
ministers  ought  to  have  felt  complimented  in 
being  compared  to   the  apostles. 

From  such  a  conflict  and  discord  of  statements 
upon  a  point  where  there  ought  to  have  been 
positive  assurance,  considering  how  much  it  was 
relied  upon,  it  was  impossible  that  any  just  de- 
cision could  have  been  attained.  Perhaps,  there- 
fore, it  was  well  that  new  matter  of  objection 
was  now  introduced. 

Mrs.  Hutchinson,  voluntarily  and  of  her  own 
prompting,  entered  upon  the  dangerous  ground 
of  "  revelations."  This  was  hailed  by  some  of 
the  more  zealous  spirits  of  the  Court  almost  as  a 
special  providence,  signifying  her  guilt,  and  tend- 
ing to  her  conviction.  Though  she  burst  into  no 
ecstasies  of  inspiration,  and  poured  forth  no  glow- 
ing maledictions  prophetic  of  divine  vengeance, 
though  she  was  even  exceedingly  moderate  and 
calm  in  expressing  a  few  great  sentiments,  which 
she  felt  prompted  to  represent  as  immediate  dis- 
closures of  the  Spirit,  yet  it  was  enough  for  the 
Court  that  she  declared  herself  as  thus  miraculous- 
ly prompted.  At  that  time,  the  only  alarming 
feature  of  enthusiasm  was  its  pretence  to  spiritual 
illumination  beyond  or  independent  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  the  slightest  encroachment  upon  that 
bewildering  realm  was  thought  as  far  more  likely 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  293 

to  be  a  step  towards  Satan  than  a  step  towards 
God  This  dread  of  immediate  revelations  was 
perfectly  consistent  with  the  prevailing  method 
of  applying  texts  of  Scripture  with  forced  and 
unwarrantable  particularity  to  any  case,  which 
would  admit  of  a  remote  resemblance.  Within 
the  limits  of  Scripture,  the  field  of  contention 
was  fair  for  all  parties ;  but  an  attempt  to  break 
the  bounds,  and  soar  into  the  regions  of  especial 
and  exclusive  illumination,  was  to  forsake  the 
lists. 

The  Court  had  met  with  a  perplexing  diffi- 
culty in  attempting  to  verify  the  alleged  con- 
tempt expressed  by  Mrs.  Hutchinson  for  the 
ministers.  Only  when  Mr.  Stoughton  said  he 
could  not  unite  in  censuring  her,  unless  an  oath 
was  imposed  upon  the  witnesses,  was  that  cer- 
emony performed  ;  and  even  then  the  calm  de- 
nial by  Mr.  Cotton  of  the  more  obnoxious  part 
of  the  language  attributed  to  her,  would  have 
made  her  conviction,  on  that  score  alone,  doubt- 
ful. The  Court  would  have  at  once  charged 
upon  her  a  pretence  to  revelations,  as  common 
report  ascribed  them  to  her,  if  direct  proof  had 
been  easy.  Her  own  free  reference  to  them 
was  very  opportune  for  the  purpose  of  her 
judges. 

She  spoke  of  her  alienation  from  the  minis- 
try of  the  Established  Church  in    England,  and 


294  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

of  the  suggestion  to  her  mind  of  certain  texts 
of  Scripture,  which  proved  its  ministers  to  be 
antichrist.  Being  asked  how  she  knew  that  it 
was  the  Spirit  which  addressed  her,  she  replied, 
that  she  knew  it  by  an  immediate  revelation. 
Other  passages,  miraculously  impressed  upon  her 
mind,  led  her  to  follow  her  only  acceptable 
teachers.  Cotton  and  Wheelwright,  to  New  Eng- 
land, and  assured  her  that  she  would  be  deliv- 
ered now  from  all  danger  and  risk  by  the  inter- 
position of  the  Almighty,  as  was  Daniel  in  the 
lions'  den.  The  glowing  style  of  her  language, 
and  the  boldness  of  her  address  at  this  moment, 
led  one  of  the  ministers  to  suggest,  that  she  was 
rather  an  antitype  of  the  lions  than  of  Daniel. 
She  concluded  by  warning  the  Court  against 
wronging  her,  or  putting  away  the  Lord  Jesus 
from  them,  as  they  would  dread  bringing  a  curse 
upon  themselves. 

Mr.  Bartholemew,  a  deputy  from  Salem,  here 
referred  to  some  other  revelations  of  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson, as  he  had  known  her  in  England,  and 
crossed  the  ocean  in  her  company.  She  had 
said  to  him,  as  the  vessel  came  within  sight  of 
Boston,  that  her  heart  would  have  failed  within 
her,  if  she  had  not  a  sure  word  that  England 
would  be  destroyed.  She  had  likewise  told  him, 
that  no  great  thing  had  happened  to  her  which 
had  not  been    revealed   to  her   beforehand.      In 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  295 

the  same  conversation,  she  made  a  reference 
to  Mr.  Hooker,  ''  whose  spirit  she  Hked  not," 
though  she  expressed  her  pleasure  at  a  sentence 
in  a  sermon  which  he  had  delivered  in  the 
Low  Countries,  in  which  he  said  that  it  had  been 
revealed  to  him  the  day  before  that  England 
should  be  destroyed.*  Mr.  Symmes  added  an 
instance  of  her  revelations.  Mr.  Cotton  was 
appealed  to  on  this  matter  of  revelations,  which 
he  in  reply  distinguished  into  two  kinds,  the 
one  being  beside  the  scripture,  or  independent 
of  it,  which  were  dangerous  and  fantastical,  and 
the  other  being  of  a  scriptural  sort,  and  never 
dispensed  save  in  or  according  to  the  word  of 
God.  This  latter  sort,  which  would  now  be 
called  deep  impressions,  or  mysterious  prompt- 
ings, caused  by  concentrated  and  earnest  medi- 
tation upon  some  passage  of  the  Bible,  Mr. 
Cotton  heartily  approved;  and  doubtless  it  was 
only  to  such  as  these  that  Mrs.  Hutchinson  made 
pretension.     Mr.  Cotton,  on  this,  as  on  the  other 

*  Mr.  Eliot  took  upon  himself  to  question  whether  Mr. 
Hooker  had  ever  said  this,  as  it  "  was  against  his  mind 
and  judgment."  But  it  is  true  that  Mr.  Hooker  did  say 
what  Mrs.  Hutchinson  attributed  to  him,  and  even  more 
literally  and  strongly  too.  It  was  in  his  farewell  sermon 
on  leaving  England ;  and  some  years  afterwards,  when  the 
civil  war  looked  towards  a  fulfilment  of  it,  he  endorsed 
the  same  prediction,  by  referring  to  it  in  a  sermon  at  Hart- 
ford.    Mather's  Magnalia,  Vol.  II.  p.  310. 


296 


AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 


point,  which  was  debated  in  the  trial,  gave  but 
meagre  satisfaction  to  the  other  ministers. 

As  to  the  dehvery  which  Mrs.  Hutchinson  said 
would  save  her  from  calamity,  she  would  not 
explain  whether  she  believed  it  was  to  be  by 
the  common  providence  of  God,  or  by  miracle. 
Mr.  Cotton  left  the  matter  of  her  expectations 
in  doubt,  when  his  opinion  was  asked  on  this, 
as  on  the  other  questions.  The  sad  fate,  which 
in  a  few  years  closed  the  sufferings  of  the  ac- 
cused, was  thought  by  her  enemies  to  be  but 
a  melancholy  commentary  upon  her  prediction, 
interpreted  in  either  way. 

It  was  upon  these,  to  say  the  least,  incom- 
plete, undefined,  and  unsubstantiated  charges 
only,  that  Mrs.  Hutchinson  could  be  convicted 
at  all.  Mr.  Coddington  alone  raised  a  word  of 
direct  and  bold  opposition,  alleging  in  her  sup- 
port the  various  explanations  and  palliations, 
which  would  suggest  themselves  to  any  cool 
observer,  to  relieve  the  real  blame  which  might 
attach  to  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  The  intention  of 
the  Court  was  probably  fixed  before  her  exami- 
nation. Governor  Winthrop  therefore  put  the 
question,  whether  it  was  the  mind  of  the  Court 
that,  for  "  the  troublesomeness  of  her  spirit,  and 
the  danger  of  her  course,"  she  should  be  ban- 
ished, and  imprisoned  until  she  could  be  sent 
away.      All   but   three   held    up   the   hand.     Of 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  297 

these  three,  Mr.  Jennison,  deputy  from  Ipswich, 
said  he  could  not  vote  either  way,  and  would 
give  his  reasons  if  desired.  Mr.  Coddington, 
the  magistrate,  and  Mr.  Colburn,  deputy  of  Bos- 
ton, alone  put  up  the  hand  in  opposition. 

The  sentence,  as  pronounced  in  the  Court, 
stands  upon  the  records  of  Massachusetts  as 
follows ; 

"  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  the  wife  of  Mr.  William 
Hutchinson,  being  convicted  for  traducing  the 
ministers  and  their  ministry  in  the  country,  she 
declared  voluntarily  her  revelations,  and  that  she 
should  be  delivered,  and  the  Court  ruined  with 
their  posterity,  and  thereupon  was  banished,  and 
in  the  mean  while  was  committed  to  Mr.  Joseph 
Welde  (of  Roxbury)  until  the  Court  shall  dis- 
pose of  her."  * 

The  guardian  to  whose  care  she  was  thus 
temporarily  committed,  that  her  banishment  might 
not  be  in  the  winter,  was  a  deputy  of  Roxbury, 
and  a  brother  of  the  minister.  She  was  to  be 
treated   with    kindness    at   his  house,  at  the   ex- 

*  Massachusetts  Court  Records,  Vol.  I.  p.  203.  There 
are  two  accounts  of  tliis  trial  preserved ;  one,  copied  from 
an  old  manuscript,  is  in  the  Appendix  to  Hutchinson's 
History  of  Massachusetts,  Vol.  II. ;  the  other  is  given  in 
Mr.  Welde's  tract.  The  former  is  more  full,  and  is 
apparently  impartial,  though  some  passages  were  obliter 
ated  by  time,  before  the  document  was  printed. 


298  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

pense  of  her  husband ;  but  only  her  particular 
friends  and  the  elders  were  to  be  admitted  to 
her,  lest  the  eloquence  of  persecution  should 
double  the  power  and  the  mischief  of  her  gifts. 

The  Court,  being  determined  to  make  thorough 
work  in  this  vexatious  matter,  called  before  them 
all  who  had  put  their  names  to  the  remonstrance, 
or  were  ready  to  approve  it.  Of  these,  Captain 
Underbill,  relying  upon  his  military  merits,  stood 
stoutly  to  his  signature ;  and,  being  asked  for  a 
Scripture  warrant  for  such  contempt  of  magis- 
trates, he  first  took  refuge  under  the  rough 
speech  of  Joab  to  King  David,  and  then  alleged 
the  freedom  always  allowed  to  military  officers, 
and  of  which  he  had  taken  the  hcense  with 
Count  Nassau  in  the  Low  Countries.  But  his 
double  plea  would  not  save  him  from  disfran- 
chisement and  the  loss  of  office.  As  already 
hinted,  he  was  amenable  to  some  more  cogniza- 
ble charges  than  those  of  heresy  and  free  speech. 
All  who  held  public  places,  and  who  joined  in 
the  remonstrance,  were  deposed. 

All  the  work  of  exorcism  that  was  yet  left 
undone,  was  completed  by  a  summary  measure, 
which  will  be  best  described  in  the  words  of 
the  Court  record. 

"  Whereas  the  opinions  and  revelations  of 
Mr.  Wheelwright  and  Mrs.  Hutchinson  have 
seduced    and    led    into    dangerous   errors   many 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  299 

of  the  people  here  hi  New  England,  insomuch 
as  there  is  just  cause  of  suspicion  that  they,  as 
others  in  Germany  in  former  times,  may,  upon 
some  revelation,  make  some  sudden  irruption 
upon  those  that  differ  from  them  in  judgment ; 
for  prevention  whereof,  it  is  ordered,  that  all 
those  whose  names  are  underwritten  shall  (upon 
warning  given  or  left  at  their  dwelling-houses) 
before  the  thirtieth  day  of  this  month  of  No- 
vember, deliver  in  at  Mr.  Cane's  [Keayne's] 
house,  at  Boston,  all  such  guns,  pistols,  swords, 
powder,  shot,  and  match,  as  they  shall  be  own- 
ers of,  or  have  in  their  custody,  upon  pain  of 
ten  pounds  for  every  default  to  be  made  there- 
of;"* a  like  penalty  being  enjoined  if  any  of 
those  thus  disarmed  should  purchase  any  arms  or 
ammunition.  Then  follow  the  names  of  those 
thus  sentenced,  including  fifty-eight  of  Boston, 
five  of  Salem,  three  of  Newbury,  five  of  Rox- 
bury,  two  of  Ipswich,  and  two  of  Charlestown. 
Liberty  was  granted  to  any  of  the  condemned 
to  escape  this  penalty,  by  acknowledging  "  their 
sin,  in  subscribmg  this  seditious  libel,  to  two 
magistrates." 

This  order  was  obeyed  only  with  the  great- 
est reluctance  and  discontent,  which  in  some 
amounted  almost  to  a  purpose  of  resistance.     It 

*  Court  Records,  Vol.  I.  p.  207. 


300  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

added  to  their  humiliation,  that  they  were  com- 
pelled to  go  of  themselves  and  deliver  up  their 
arms.  But  resistance  would  have  been  vain,  as 
Boston,  where  the  disaffected  were  principally 
found,  was  under  the  ban  of  the  jurisdiction. 
We  are  forced  to  believe,  that  either  imagina- 
tion or  threats  offered  to  the  Court  some  reason 
to  apprehend,  that  the  tragedies  of  Munster  might 
be  repeated  here.  It  is  too  much  to  suppose, 
that  the  suggestion  was  a  mere  pretence  to  cloak 
an  arbitrary  and  cowardly  measure,  especially 
as  the  Court  soon  after  ordered  the  powder  and 
arms  belonging  to  the  country  to  be  removed 
from  Boston  to  Roxbury  and  Cambridge.  Un- 
doubtedly, some  sudden  outrage  was  feared,  as 
the  violent  action  of  high-wrought  enthusiasm 
inspired  by  prophecy  and  revelation.  Mr.  Welde, 
in  evident  sincerity,  says,  that  hints  of  this  kind 
were  dropped,  and  beside,  that  some  intimations 
of  what  was  to  occur,  and  some  delirious  pre- 
dictions, were  so  boldly  and  freely  spoken,  that 
Mr.  Cotton  made  them  the  subject  of  several 
warning    sermons.* 

Ten  of  the  censured  party  recanted  immedi- 
ately on  the  promulgation  of  the  order  of  the 
Court,  and  others  did  the  same,  who  were  not 
on  the  list.     They  were  at  once  pardoned. 

*  Welde's  Short  Story,  &c.  p.  42. 


ANNE      HLT CHIN SON.  301 

The  majority  of  those  thus  dealt  by,  in  pro- 
cess of  time,  were  concihated ;  but  some  of  them 
were  aUenated  once  for  all  from  Massachusetts. 
These  left  the  jurisdiction,  as  we  shall  soon 
see.  The  spirit  of  opposition,  and  the  sense  of 
wrong,  being  once  kindled  in  their  breast,  re- 
mained in  them  for  life.  Their  opinions  de- 
parted further  and  further  from  those  established 
in  Massachusetts,  and  a  few  returned  to  Boston 
in  the  character  of  Quakers,  on  visits  of  annoy- 
ance. Mrs.  Dyer,  who  was  sadly  signahzed  in 
the  controversy  with  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  being, 
after  repeated  banishment  as  a  Quaker,  con- 
demned to  death,  was  hanged  as  such  on  Bos- 
ton Common. 

The  Court  felt  the  importance  of  forestalling 
public  opinion  in  England  in  reference  to  their 
proceedings,  that  they  might  not  suffer  by  slan- 
derous reports,  and  that  their  "godly  friends" 
might  not  be  discouraged  from  coming  over. 
Accordingly,  an  account  of  the  whole  controversy 
was  sent  into  England,  which  was  printed  there, 
and  introduced  with  a  preface  by  Mr.  Welde, 
of  Roxbury,  while  he  was  in  England,  in  1644.* 
Doubtless  he  was  the  writer  of  the  whole  con- 


*  "  A  Short  Story  of  the  Rise,  Reign,  and  Ruin,  of  the 
Antinomians,  Familists,  and  Liberalists,  that  infected  the 
Churches  of  New  England,"  &c. 


302  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

tents.  This  tract  created  much  sensation  abroad, 
and  is  referred  to  in  many  of  the  pam.phlets 
of  the  time. 

The  weight  of  indignation  of  the  members 
of  the  Boston  church  fell  upon  Governor  Win- 
throp,  as  at  least  the  civil  leader  in  the  se- 
vere prosecution  against  them.  A  vigorous  effort 
was  made  to  call  him  to  account,  but  the  elders 
would  not  encourage  the  measure.  The  Gov- 
ernor, being  aware  of  the  feeling  and  the  inten- 
tion, took  occasion  to  speak  at  large  upon  the 
matter  before  the  whole  congregation,  when  he 
said  that,  if  his  course  had  been  publicly  ques- 
tioned, he  should  have  fully  justified  himself  by 
proving  the  absolute  irresponsibility  of  the  Court, 
for  its  proceedings,  to  the  church.*  He  also  ad- 
dressed a  letter,  dated  January  I.5th,  1637-8, 
to  his  "  Worthy  Friends  and  Beloved  Brethren, 
Mr.  Coddington,  Mr.  Coggeshall,  and  Mr.  Col- 
burn,"  censuring  them  for  their  "  rash,  unwar- 
ranted, and  seditious  delinquency,"  in  signing 
the  remonstrance  against  the  proceedings  of  the 
Court.f  An  order  was  likewise  passed  in  the 
Court  against  any  one,  especially  a  magistrate, 
who  should  be  guilty  of  contempt ;   yet  an  attempt 

*  Winthrop,  Vol.  I.  pp.  249,  250. 

I  This  document  is  in  the  Appendix  to  Savage's  Win- 
throp, Vol.  I.  p.  403. 


AJINE     HUTCHINSON.  303 

is  made  to  distinguish  the  right  of  petition,  as 
it  is  acknowledged  that  "  the  best  judges  may 
err  through  ignorance  or  misinformation."  * 

Among  the  lamentable  results  of  the  contro- 
versy, at  this  stage  of  it,  was  the  development 
of  various  wild  and  free  notions,  which  are  prob- 
ably to  be  in  justice  ascribed  as  much  to  the 
manner  in  which  heresy  had  been  treated,  as  to 
the  heresy  itself.  The  church  at  Roxbury  be- 
gan to  deal  with  the  offenders  in  its  own  com- 
munion. Those  who  had  signed  the  petition 
were  called  to  account,  and  were  examined  at 
great  length.  Winthrop  and  Welde  assert,  that 
this  examination  "  discovered,"  we  might  say  cre- 
ated, or  called  into  being,  "  divers  other  foul  er- 
rors "  and  "  corrupt  opinions."  Admonition  was 
at  first  attempted  in  the  Roxbury  church  ;  but, 
as  this  was  found  insufficient,  five  or  six  mem- 
bers were  excommunicated,  and  some  of  these, 
says  Winthrop,  were  taken  "  in  plain  lies  and 
other  foul  distempers."  f  The  reference  doubt- 
less is  to  the  "  inferences  "  of  a  most  objection- 
able character,  which  were  drawn  from  offen- 
sive opinions,  though  not  professed  or  allowed 
by  the  accused. 

*  Court  Records,  Vol.  I.,  under  date. 

t  Winthrop,  Vol.  I.  p.  250.    Welde,  p.  43. 


304  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY, 


CHAPTER   IX. 

Interviews  of  the  Elders  with  Mrs.  Hutchinson. 
—  Another  List  of  Heresies.  —  The  Elders 
prompt  the  Boston  Church  to  proceed  against 
her.  —  Her  two  Examinations  after  Thursday 
Lecture.  —  Her  Answers.  — Appearance  of  Har- 
mony. —  Her  Admonition.  —  Is  charged  with 
Deception,  and  on  that  Charge  is  excommuni- 
cated. —  Alienation  of  some  of  her  Friends.  — 
Absence  of  some  of  her  chief  Supporters. — 
Preparations  for  a  Removal  to  Rhode  Island, 

There  was  yet  another  ordeal,  through  which 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  to  pass,  more  legitimate, 
if  not  more  merciful,  in  its  dealings.  The 
church,  to  which  she  had  voluntarily  united  her- 
self, had,  by  its  covenant,  a  relation  of  responsi- 
bility to  her,  and  she  had  the  same  to  the  church, 
in  matters  of  faith  and  discipline.  She  was  now 
for  the  first  time  to  be  called  to  account  by  this 
body  as  a  diseased  member.  But  even  this 
measure  did  not  originate  in  that  church,  nor 
would  it,  probably,  have  been  adopted  there,  if 
the  church  had  been  left  unadvised  to  its  own 
motions.  The  magistrates  and  ministers  could 
have  been  induced  by  no  earthly  motive  to 
allow  the   obnoxious    doctrines    of  the  new  par- 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  305 

ty  to  pass  without  further  mterference.  Con- 
ferences and  consultations  were  held  in  uninter- 
rupted succession,  for  the  sake  of  devising  some 
"way  to  help  the  growing  evils." 

While  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  restrained  at  Rox- 
bury,  her  spirits  fell  in  natural  melancholy ;  but 
she  was  more  of  an  oracle  then  than  ever  before. 
The  elders,  particularly,  beset  her  with  their 
examinations.  They  went  to  her  with  the  story 
of  some  strange  or  foolish  notion,  which  had  been 
ascribed  to  one  or  another  of  her  friends.  They 
pressed  her,  too,  with  their  own  inferences,  say- 
ing, that  if  she  held  this,  she  must  therefore  hold 
that.  In  this  way,  the  elders  discovered  that 
she  held  "gross  errors,  to  the  number  of  thirty 
or  thereabouts."  In  a  conference  in  Boston,  the 
other  ministers  acquainted  the  Boston  church 
with  these  errors,  offering  to  prove  the  liabihty 
and  the  guilt  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  in  them,  if  she 
would  appear  in  the  open  congregation.  The 
elders  of  Boston  assented  to  the  motion,  though 
they  declined  appearing  as  witnesses.  Permis- 
sion being  granted  by  the  magistrates,  she  came 
for  this  purpose  to  her  own  house  in  Boston. 

Thursday,  March  15th,  1638,  the  lecture  was 
set  an  hour  earlier  than  usual,  that  full  time 
might  be  allowed  for  the  solemn  work  of  en- 
deavoring to  exhaust  what  little  spirit,  bad  or 
good,  might  be  left  in  this  dreaded  heretic.     Less 

VOL.    VI.  20 


306  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

than  half  of  the  interesting  materials  then  offered 
would  have  sufficed  to  make  a  holiday  for  old 
and  young  ;  but  the  whole  of  them,  combined 
and  united,  must  have  spread  an  intense  and 
universal  excitement.  The  Court  being  then  in 
session  at  Cambridge,  the  Governor  and  Treasurer 
were  allowed  to  go  to  Boston  as  members  of  the 
church.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  did  not  come  in  until 
after  the  usual  services  were  finished ;  an  act  of 
implied  contempt,  which  did  not  fail  to  be  noted, 
though  she  excused  herself  by  alleging  bodily 
infirmity. 

The  new  specifications  of  heresy  charged  upon 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  were,  for  the  most  part,  harm- 
less speculations,  wholly  metaphysical,  or  at  least 
without  any  dangerous  practical  tendency ;  and, 
more  than  all,  they  were  expressions  of  opinions 
which  she  never  would  have  obtruded,  nor  prob- 
ably have  uttered,  of  her  own  accord.  The  eld- 
ers had  digested  from  her  conversations  with 
them  twenty-nine  heretical  opinions.  A  copy  of 
them,  subscribed  with  the  names  of  witnesses, 
had  been  sent  to  her  some  days  before  the  ex- 
amination ;  and  when  the  list  was  read  before 
the  congregation  she  acknowledged  them,  though 
she  complained,  as  in  the  Court,  that  private 
conversations  were  put  to  such  a  use,  and  vehe- 
mently rebuked  her  pastor,  Mr.  Wilson,  for  fol- 
lowing her  sentence  of  banishment  with  reproach- 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  307 

es.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  also  alleged  that  she  held 
none  of  the  errors  now  ascribed  to  her  before 
her  restraint  at  Roxbury. 

Formidable  as  is  the  list  of  the  ''  errors/'  it 
contains  no  matter  new  in  the  whole  controver- 
sy, except  that  she  was  charged  with  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Materialists ;  and  this  was  the  chief 
matter  of  debate.  She  held  to  the  opinion, 
"  that  the  souls  of  men  are  mortal  by  generation, 
but  are  afterwards  made  immortal  by  Christ's 
purchase."  She  was,  however,  induced  to  ac- 
knowledge, after  a  wearisome  discussion,  that  the 
opinion  was  confuted.  The  examination  then 
passed  to  another  of  her  "  erroneous  opinions," 
'•'  that  there  was  no  resurrection  of  these  bodies, 
but  that  those  who  were  united  to  Christ  would 
have  new  bodies."  This  opinion,  which  has 
been  and  is  held  by  Christians  as  wise  and  as 
holy  as  any  of  her  judges,  she  positively  refused 
to  renounce.  She  listened  patiently  to  all  that 
was  said  against  it,  and  met  every  objection  with 
a  most  masterly  and  pertinent  reply.  In  this 
she  fairly  triumphed ;  and  as  argument  failed  to 
convince,  and  authority  could  not  subdue  her, 
the  elders  of  Boston  propounded  to  the  church 
that  she  should  be  solemnly  admonished.  All 
the  church  consented  except  two  members ; 
these  two  were  sons  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  ;  and 
because  they  would  not  join  in  censuring  a  pa- 


308  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

rent  whom  they  revered,  they  were  first  admon- 
ished, being  most  pitifully  and  pathetically  ad- 
dressed as  giving  way  to  natural  affection,  and 
as  "  tearing  the  very  bowels  of  their  souls,  by 
hardening  their  mother  in  sin."  * 

Mr.  Cotton,  who  pronounced  the  admonition 
on  the  sons,  pronounced  it  also  upon  the  moth- 
er. He  spoke  to  her  of  the  high  esteem  in 
which  she  was  at  first  held,  and  of  the  good 
service  she  had  then  rendered,  but  added  that, 
by  her  recent  course  and  heresies,  she  had  done 
more  of  harm.  '^  He  laid  her  sin  to  her  con- 
science with  much  zeal  and  solemnity  ;  he  ad- 
monished her  also  of  the  height  of  her  spirit ; 
then  he  spake  to  the  sisters  of  the  church,  and 
advised  them  to  take  heed  of  her  opinions,  and 
to  withhold  all  countenance  and  respect  from 
her,  lest  they  should  harden  her  in  her  sin." 
These  outrageous  proceedings  were  continued 
till  eight  o'clock  at  night,  when  the  victim  was 
told  to  prepare  for  another  like  trial  on  the  next 
''  lecture-day." 

The  Court  had  ordered  that  Mrs.  Hutchinson 
should  return  to  Roxbury  again  ;  '^  but,  upon  in- 
timation that  her  spirit  began  to  fall,"  and  with 
the  hope    that    she    might  be   subdued,  she  was 

*  Welde's  Short  Story,  &c.  p.  62.  Cotton  (Answer  to 
Baylie)  says  that  only  one  son  dissented,  and  received  ad- 
monition.    Welde  says  two. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  309 

allowed  to  remain,  during  the  ensuing  week,  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  Cotton,  where  Mr.  Davenport, 
of  New  Haven,  was  then  visiting.  The  two 
ministers  used  all  their  influence  to  soften  and 
to  change  her  views. 

At  her  second  examination,  which  took  place 
after  the  lecture,  March  22d,  Mrs.  Hutchinson, 
in  true  humihty  of  spirit  for  whatever  uninten- 
tional errors  she  might  have  held  or  committed, 
yet  with  a  dignified  profession  of  her  liberty  to 
keep  her  own  convictions,  again  stood  before 
the  whole  congregation.  The  efforts  of  the  two 
ministers  had  had  an  effect  upon  her,  so  far  as 
to  bring  her  into  a  readiness  to  allow  and  con- 
fess all  that  truly  Christian-minded  and  consid- 
erate judges  could  in  reason  have  required.  She 
delivered  answers  in  writing  to  the  opinions 
charged  upon  her,  and  acknowledged  some  error 
in  all  of  them  except  that  relating  to  the  resur- 
rection. Being  permitted  to  address  the  con- 
gregation, she  humbly  acknowledged  faults  of 
temper,  of  speech,  and  of  conduct ;  she  thought 
that  God  might  have  left  her  to  herself  for  the 
slights  which  she  had  put  upon  the  ordinances, 
upon  the  ministers,  and  the  magistrates ;  she 
owned  that  her  speeches  and  revelations  in  the 
Court  were  rash  and  groundless  ;  and  she  de- 
sired the  prayers  of  the  church  in  her  behalf. 


310  AMERICAN     BIjOGRAPHY. 

Thus  far  it  seemed  as  if  this  formidable  here- 
tic was  subdued,  and  would  yet  become  the  in- 
strument of  reclaiming  all  who  had  followed  her 
in  the  way  of  dissension.  But  when  her  answers 
in  writing  were  examined,  they  were  found  to  be 
encumbered  with  explanations  and  circumlocu- 
tions, and  were  not  satisfactory.  She  denied 
that  she  had  ever  held  the  opinion  attributed 
to  her,  "  that  there  is  no  inherent  righteousness 
in  the  saints,  and  that  the  righteousness  in  them 
is  all  the  righteousness  of  Christ ; "  and  she  as- 
cribed the  charge  against  her,  on  that  account, 
as  well  she  might,  to  the  obscurity,  or  misunder- 
standing, or  misrepresentation,  of  her  expressions. 
Upon  this  arose  an  imputation  of  falsehood. 
She  insisted  that  she  had  never  held  the  offen- 
sive opinion.  Others  affirmed  that  she  had  no- 
toriously expressed  it.  The  elders  and  others 
directly  accused  her  of  lying,  and  she  as  perti- 
naciously maintained  her  innocence.  For  this 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  condemned  by  the  church. 
The  controversy,  of  three  years'  continuance, 
which  had  drawn  nearly  the  whole  of  the  be- 
lievers in  Boston,  magistrates,  ministers,  women, 
soldiers,  and  the  common  multitude,  under  the 
banners  of  a  female  leader,  and  had  changed  the 
government  of  the  colony,  and  spread  its  strange 
reports  over  Protestant  Europe,  was  thus  brought 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  311 

to  an  issue,  by  imputing  deception  about  one  of 
the  most  unintelligible  tenets  of  faith  to  her,  who 
could  not  be  circumvented  in  any  other  way. 

Some  moved  that  the  admonition  against  her 
should  be  repeated;  but  the  church,  by  silence, 
gave  general  consent  to  her  excommunication. 
Mr.  Cotton  shifted  the  disgraceful  work  upon 
the  pastor,  Mr.  Wilson,  on  the  plea  that  an  un- 
truth, being  "  matter  of  manners,"  came  under 
his  discipline.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  offered  no  ob- 
jection, nor  asked  for  delay.  The  venerable  rec- 
ords of  the  First  Church  in  Boston  are  thus 
disfigured  by  the  following  entry;  ''The  22d 
of  the  1st  Month,  [March,]  1638.  Anne,  the 
wife  of  our  brother,  William  Hutchinson,  having 
on  the  15th  of  this  month  been  openly,  in  the 
public  congregation,  admonished  of  sundry  er- 
rors held  by  her,  was  on  the  same  22d  day 
cast  out  of  the  church,  for  impenitently  per- 
sisting in  a  manifest  lie,  then  expressed  by  her 
in  open  congregation."* 

Thus  it  appears  that  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  in  her 


*  Records  of  the  First  Church  of  Boston,  p.  9.  The 
account  given  in  the  text  of  the  examinations  of  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  before  the  church,  is  drawn  from  the  state- 
ments of  Welde  and  Winthrop.  Candor,  therefore,  would 
lead  us  to  believe,  that  there  were  some  softening  and  re- 
deeming particulars,  which,  if  tending  at  all  to  the  honor  of 
the  accused,  would  not  have  been  recorded  by  these  writers. 


312  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

examination  before  the  cliurch,  made  all  Chris- 
tian amends  for  everything  that  had  been  amiss 
in  her  conduct  in  society,  and  in  her  language 
and  behavior  before  the  Court;  and  that  she  was 
excommunicated  on  the  charge  of  deception,  of 
falsehood.  This  charge  rested  wholly  on  the 
ground  just  stated.  She  offered  a  satisfactory 
explanation  of  some  bold  and  literal  statements 
of  doctrinal  belief,  and  followed  the  explanation 
with  the  direct  assertion,  that  she  had  never 
maintained  or  taught  anything  different  from 
her  present  professions.  To  have  allowed  the 
matter  to  be  thus  disposed  of,  would  have  ap- 
proached so  near  to  self-humiliation  on  the  part 
of  her  most  heated  opponents,  that  any  other 
course  would  have  been  preferable  to  them.  To 
admit  that  all  the  excitement  and  passion,  which 
had  distracted  the  colony,  had  arisen  from  the 
indefiniteness  of  language,  was  a  concession 
too  large  for  the  well  known  characteristics  of 
human  nature.  It  was  far  easier  to  charge  a 
woman  of  unchallenged  integrity  and  virtue  with 
falsehood,  provided  that  charge  could  be  relieved 
or  heightened,  as  might  be,  by  the  mystifications 
of  a  hair-splitting  theology. 

The  result  of  this  examination  tends  greatly 
to  confirm  a  conviction,  which  arises  at  the  first 
notice  of  the  controversy,  and  which  grows  strong 
through  its   progress,   that   it  was   not   so   much 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  313 

Mrs.  Hutchinson's  views,  as  the  inferences  which 
a  jealous  and  timid  party  drew  from  them,  that 
caused  her  to  be  so  harshly  dealt  with.  At  the 
same  time  it  should  be  allowed,  that  the  more 
unwise  and  rash  among  her  followers  helped 
these  inferences  to  become  real  and  most  of- 
fensive opinions,  actually  received,  and  freely 
expressed,  often,  too,  in  more  offensive  and  un- 
becoming ways.  It  is  equally  disagreeable  and 
unnecessary  to  believe,  that  Mrs.  Hutchinson 
practised    any    deception. 

She  held  literally  and  earnestly  to  the  con- 
viction, that  a  person  who  was  in  the  way  of 
salvation  had  an  assurance  within  his  breast, 
written  or  whispered  there  by  the  Spirit  of  God ; 
and  that  all  outside  piety,  whatever  its  means, 
recommendations,  and  value,  was  so  infinitely  be- 
low that  inward  assurance  as  to  belong  to  an- 
other, even  to  a  hostile,  covenant.  And  this  is 
but  one  of  the  many  phases  of  the  controversy 
concerning  faith  and  works.  Her  fundamental 
opinion,  on  the  leading  tenet  just  stated,  was 
what  had  been  dear  to  Mrs.  Hutchinson  from 
the  commencement  of  her  religious  experience. 
It  was  the  light,  which  she  believed  had  shined 
into  her  mind  upon  it,  that  gave  her  peace  in 
England  ;  and  it  was  to  cherish  that  light,  that 
she  resigned  herself  to  share  the  exile  of  the  only 
two   preachers   in  all    England,  who   "  spoke    to 


314  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

her  condition."  This  tenet,  all  the  original  no- 
tices of  her  agree  in  declaring,  she  began  to 
explain  and  enforce  in  sick  chambers,  and  by 
their  bearings  upon  it,  she  expounded  at  her 
meetings  the  sermons  which  favored  or  con- 
flicted with  it.  It  was  this  tenet  which  won  for 
her  the  approval  of  Cotton,  the  admiration  of 
young  Vane,  and  tlie  sterling  regard  of  Cod- 
dington.  This  tenet  she  never  yielded,  nor  did 
she  evade  any  legitimate  and  rigid  inferences 
from  it.  If  she  deceived  her  judges  at  all,  it 
was  in  not  allowing  them  to  fasten  upon  her 
any  caricatured  likenesses  or  deductions  from 
her   opinions. 

The  question  naturally  presents  itself.  What 
had  wrought  so  great  a  change  in  the  Boston 
church,  so  that,  from  having  only  some  half- 
dozen  members  to  oppose  her  course  in  one  year, 
the  whole  covenanted  company  should  unite  in 
visitmg  upon  her  the  heaviest  ecclesiastical  cen- 
sure in  the  year  following?  This  question  ad- 
mits of  a  very  satisfactory  answer ;  for  three  prin- 
cipal causes,  to  omit  a  reference  to  others  which 
might  have  operated,  contributed  to  eflfect  that 
change  in  a  way  perfectly  consistent  with  the 
fair  credit  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  just  grounds 
of  alarm,  offered  by  the  heat  and  folly  of  indi- 
viduals,   to   authorize   the   Court   to   disarm   the 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  315 

majority  of  the  Boston  cliurch,  on  the  plea  that 
they  might  venture  to  repeat  the  tragedy  of 
Munster,  it  is  still  apparent  that  the  followers  of 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  were  remarkably  patient  and 
peaceable.  They  marked  the  steady  course  of 
opposition,  and  with  it  the  increased  exertion  of 
the  civil  power  to  overwhelm  the  weaker  party. 
To  such  a  struggle  there  could  be  but  one 
termination,  and  they  preferred  to  anticipate, 
rather  than  to  defer  it.  The  comfort  of  their 
famihes,  the  relations  of  neighborhood,  their  civil 
privileges,  their  landed  property  and  improve- 
ments, and,  what  was  the  crowning  comfort  of 
their  lives,  the  delight  of  their  temple  services, 
were  all  at  ctake,  and  they  were  willing  to  sac- 
rifice something  to  retain  them.  There  were 
many  in  the  Boston  church,  who  weighed  this 
balance  of  peace,  and  union,  and  prosperity, 
against  a  cherished  friend  and  opinion ;  and 
though  all,  who  thus  allowed  prudence  to  add 
the  turning  weight,  would  have  resisted  if  any- 
thing could  have  been  hoped  from  resistance, 
they  were  willing  to  acquiesce  in  silence  in  the 
ultimate  action  of  the  church ;  for  it  is  not 
probable,  that  they  joined  in  the  vote  of  ex- 
communication, even  if  they  were  present  in 
the   assembly. 

Others  may   have  been  turned  from  their  at- 
tachment to  Mrs.  Hutchinson  by  the  very  means 


316  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

used  to  insure  her  condemnation.  The  infer- 
ences, which  had  been  drawn  from  her  opinions, 
might  well  shock  some  timid  persons.  The  for- 
midable list  of  heretical  articles,  authenticated  by 
the  signatures  of  elders,  and  thus  forcing  upon 
her,  in  a  public  defence,  certain  rash  and  hasty 
expressions  used  in  private  conversation,  may 
have  led  some  to  discover  in  her  views  danger 
and  folly.  If  the  catalogue  of  unclaimed  and 
unattributed  errors,  read  over  in  the  Synod, 
had  so  irritated  her  followers  as  to  drive  them 
from  its  attractive  discussions,  many  of  these 
same  persons  might  have  been  appalled  at  dis- 
covering that  she  acknowledged  any  part  of 
them.  If  these  offensive  inferences  from  her 
opinions  could  suggest  themselves  to  some  per- 
sons, others  might  be  frightened  by  them.  It 
is  probable  that  in  this  way  many  of  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson's friends  were  alienated  from  her.  They 
were  inclined  to  admit  that  they  had  been  en- 
trapped into  real  heresy,  were  likely  to  be  led 
on  much  beyond  the  limits  of  speculation,  which 
they  recognized  as  authoritative ;  and  from  mere 
dread  of  being  committed  to  a  reckless  and  faith- 
less fellowship  of  errors,  they  did  not  inquire 
very  carefully  into  the  course,  which  had  been 
pursued  with  Mrs.  Hutchinson  by  the  ministers 
after  her  condemnation  by  the  Court.  Doubt- 
less many  of  the  church  were  led  by  the  heret- 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  317 

ical  articles  nominally  vouched  by  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson, to  allow,  if  not  to  encourage,  her  excom- 
munication. 

From  the  two  causes  just  named,  the  worldly- 
prudent  and  timid  of  the  Boston  church  might 
be  led  to  condemn  her  whom  they  but  lately 
approved  ;  and  these  are  all  for  whose  supposed 
change  of  opinion  we  have  to  account.  The 
more  devoted  and  distinguished  among  the  friends 
of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  did  not  join  in  her  sentence, 
nor  sit  to  hear  it  pronounced,  for  they  were  not 
present  when  she  was  examined.  Their  absence, 
which  thus  enabled  the  church  to  act  with  their 
apparent  sanction,  even  Winthrop  does  not  hesi- 
tate to  refer  to,  as  a  contingency  designed  by  the 
providence  of  God.*         ^ 

Mr.  John  Clarke,  one  of  the  more  eminent 
of  the  fifty-eight  church  members,  who  had  been 
disarmed  by  the  order  ot  the  Court,  proposed  to 
some  of  his  censured  brethren  a  removal  from 
the  jurisdiction,  and  had  been  seeking  a  place  of 
refuge  in  the  summer,  before  their  last  penalty 
was  laid  upon  them.  They  intended  to  go 
to  the  southward  ;  but,  while  their  vessel  was 
passing  round  Cape  Cod,  they  crossed  by  land, 
with  a  view  to  sail  afterwards  to  Long  Island 
and    Delaware   Bay.      At  Providence,  they  met 

*  Winthrop,  Vol.  1.  p.  258. 


318  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

with  Roger  Williams,  by  whose  recommendation, 
and  the  advice  of  some  friends  at  Plymouth, 
they  concluded  to  settle  at  Aquetneck,  now 
Rhode  Island.  Having  come  to  this  determina- 
tion, they  went  back  to  Boston,  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  their  removal ;  and  early  in  the  spring, 
they  made  a  permanent  settlement  at  Pocasset, 
now  Newport.  The  number  of  refugees  in- 
creasing, another  settlement  was  soon  made  at 
Portsmouth,  the  opposite  extremity  of  the  island. 
The  civil  compact,  entered  into  by  these  twice 
exiled  sufferers  for  conscience,  was  signed  by  eigh- 
teen persons,  on  the  7th  of  March,  1638,  a  fort- 
night before  the  excommunication  of  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson.* William  Coddington  and  Edward  Hutch- 
inson, junior  or  senior,  are  the  only  two  names 
subscribed  to  this  compact,  which  are  not  on  the 
list  of  the  disarmed  ;  and  of  the  whole  eighteen, 
at  least  twelve  were  members  of  the  Boston 
church.  Whether  or  not  advantage  was  taken 
of  their  departure  to  visit  upon  Mrs.  Hutchinson 
the  ecclesiastical  penalty,  is  doubtful ;  but  it  is 
certain  that  their  absence  insured  her  condemna- 
tion, though  some  of  them  occasionally  visited 
Boston  while  completing  their  arrangements.     We 

*  Callender's  Century  Sermon,  Rhode  Island  Hist.  Coll. 
Vol.  IV.  p.  84.  The  cession  of  the  island  to  these  asso- 
ciates was  made  by  the  Indians  on  the  24th  of  tins  same 
month. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  319 

find,  indeed,  upon  the  records  of  the  Court,  that, 
on  the  12th  of  March,  several  of  these  offensive 
persons,  with  the  names  of  Mr.  Coddington  and 
Deacon  Coggeshall  opening  the  list,  were  called 
to  appear,  if  in  the  jurisdiction,  to  answer  about 
their  departing  or  remaining.*  Mr.  Coddington 
did  not  remove  his  family  to  the  island  until 
April  26th.t 

After  sentence  was  pronounced  in  the  church 
against  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  her  spirits,  which  had 
been  sensibly  depressed,  and  with  good  reason, 
considering  her  place  and  treatment,  rallied  again, 
and  all  her  dignity,  and  probably  all  her  assur- 
ance, came  to  her  aid.  She  did  not  pour  insult 
or  defiance  upon  her  judges ;  but  she  gloried  in 
her  experience,  and  said  that,  next  to  Christ,  she 
was  enjoying  the  highest  happiness  of  her  life. 
Mr.  Welde  put  his  own  construction  upon  this 
triumphing  of  the  "  American  Jezabel,"  by  clos- 
ing his  ''  Story  "  in  these  words  ;  "  God  giving 
her  up,  since  the  sentence  of  excommunication, 
to  that  hardness  of  heart,  as  she  is  not  affected 
with  any  remorse,  but  glories  in  it,  and  fears 
not  the  vengeance  of  God  which  she  lies  under, 

*  Massachusetts  Court  Records,  Vol.  I.,  under  date.  The 
cause  assigned  in  the  Records  is,  that  the  Court  had  re- 
ceived an  intimation  that  Coddington  and  others  intended 
to  go  off  only  for  a  time,  and  then  to  return  to  Boston. 

t  Winthrop,  Vol.  I.  p.  261. 


320  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

as  if  God  did  work  contrary  to  his  own  word, 
and  loosed  from  heaven,  while  his  church  had 
bound  upon  earth."  * 


CHAPTER   X. 


The  Warrant  of  the  Sentence  of  Banishment 
against  Mrs.  Hutchinson  enforced.  —  She  leaves 
Massachusetts  for  Rhode  Island.  —  New  Anxi- 
eties aroused  by  that  Colony.  —  Condition  q/ 
the  Boston  Church.  —  Mrs.  Hutchinson  writes  a 
Letter  of  Admonition. —  Charged  with  denying 
Magistracy.  —  A  disorderly  Church  gathered 
by  the  Exiles.  —  Mrs.  Hutchinson  continues  her 
Prophesyings. —  A  Deputation  sent  to  her  from 
the  Church  at  Boston.  —  Their  Report  of  their 
Mission,  and  Action  upon  it.  —  Francis  Hutch- 
inson^ s  Letter.  —  Mr.  Cotton's  Reply.  —  Let- 
ter of  the  Church  to  Mrs.  Hutchinson^ s  Friends. 
—  Debate  upon  it.  —  Reverend  Mr.  Collins 
and  Francis  Hutchinson  imprisoned  in  Boston. 

Two  or  three  days  after  the  ecclesiastical  cen- 
sure against  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  Governor  Winthrop 

*   Welde's  ShoH  Story,  p.  66. 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  321 

required  her  to  comply  with  the  sentence,  which 
had  been  previously  pronounced  against  her  in 
the  Court,  enjoining  her  to  leave  the  jurisdiction 
by  the  end  of  March.  Yielding  to  the  authority 
of  his  warrant,  she  left  Boston  by  water,  on  the 
28th  of  the  month,  for  Mount  Wollaston,  (Brain- 
t^-ee,)  where  her  husband,  like  many  other  Bos- 
lAi  people,  had  a  farm.  Her  intention  was 
to  accompany  Mr.  Wheelwright  and  his  family 
to  the  new  settlement,  designed  by  him  and 
some  of  his  followers,  at  the  Falls  of  the  Piscata- 
qua,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Exeter.  But 
her  husband  having  already  united  with  others 
in  the  purchase  of  Rhode  Island,  she  changed 
her  intention,  and  went  by  land  to  Providence, 
where  she  joined  her  friends  for  their  new  des- 
tination. 

Tfllie  terrors  of  the  law  were  held  over  the 
heretics  of  Boston  ;  and  it  being  once  decided 
that  they  must  depart,  it  was  concluded  that  the 
sooner  the  jurisdiction  was  rid  of  them,  the  more 
probable  would  be  the  hope  of  restoring  peace 
among  a  distracted  people.  In  the  course  of 
the  following  summer,  large  numbers  of  Boston 
and  the  neighborhood  moved  to  the  Island ;  and 
freedom  of  conscience  allowed,  perhaps  it  did 
something  to  create,  a  very  great  variety  of  opin- 
ion about  religious  institutions,  ordinances,  and 
doctrines. 

VOL.    VI.  21 


322  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

It  seemed,  for  a  season,  to  be  doubtful  wheth- 
er the  summary  measures  taken  against  the 
Antinomians  would  effect  anything  more  than 
merely  to  change  the  form,  in  which  the  annoy- 
ance of  their  influence  would  manifest  itself. 
There  was  by  no  means  a  restoration  of  harmony 
in  the  church  at  Boston  for  many  months.  The 
relations  of  private  life  had  been  imbittered ;  and 
the  manner  in  which  opinions  had  been  dealt 
by,  as  well  as  the  opinions  themselves,  had  intro- 
duced feuds  which  did  not  for  a  long  time  sub- 
side. There  is  no  period  of  the  colonial  his- 
tory, which,  as  far  as  regards  the  character, 
motives,  and  conduct,  of  individuals,  requires 
more  caution  in  the  perusal  of  its  records  than 
this. 

All  sorts  of  wild  and  ruinous  speculations  and 
practices  were  attributed  by  Massachusettsu wri- 
ters to  the  early  settlers  of  Rhode  Island.  Some 
of  these  charges  may  now  be  satisfactorily  proved 
false,  and  others  were  doubtless  exaggerated. 
Still  it  is  but  fair  to  allow,  that  the  near  prox- 
imity of  a  company  of  disaffected  and  heretical 
persons  was  a  serious  grievance  to  the  people 
of  the  Bay  colony.  Rhode  Island  harbored  and 
sheltered  a  class  of  enthusiasts  and  opinionists, 
whom  they  considered  as  dangerous  as  malefac- 
tors. It  was  also  a  place  of  safe  refuge  for  all 
obnoxious  heretics,  from  which  they  might  travel 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  323 

easily  to  Boston,  and  instil  the  supposed  poison 
of  their  views,  and  then  be  off  before  the  law, 
though  it  was  remarkably  vigilant  in  this  respect, 
was  able  to  seize  them.  Massachusetts  felt  that 
the  vagaries  of  even  one  man  or  woman  might 
endanger  all  her  liberties,  might  render  worthless 
the  property  which  the  adventurers  had  embarked 
in  their  enterprise,  might  bring  upon  them  the 
threatening  arm  of  the  commission  in  England, 
and  utterly  annul  the  obligations  and  fellowship 
of  their  church  covenant. 

It  was,  therefore,  with  mingled  indignation 
and  alarm,  that  the  authorities  in  Massachusetts 
watched  the  successful  commencement  of  a  new 
and  heretical  colony  so  near ;  a  colony  which 
expressly  enfranchised  all  opinions  in  religion, 
and  restricted  the  power  of  the  magistracy  to  the 
very  narrowest  compass,  even  in  civil  matters. 
Massachusetts  used  considerable  ingenuity  in  de- 
vising means  for  extending  some  sort  of  control 
over  those  of  the  Island,  who  had  been  banished 
from  her  jurisdiction,  or  had  gone  there  in  sym- 
pathy with  them.  Some  of  these  had  been  ex- 
communicated, some  admonished,  by  the  church 
at  Boston,  and  others  were  still  in  communion 
with  it,  as  they  had  not  been  censured,  nor  had 
voluntarily  dissolved  their  own  connection  with 
it.  Over  all  these  alike  the  church,  according 
to  its  covenant,  was  bound    to  keep  watch    and 


324  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

care.  Even  the  excommunicated  members  were 
still,  in  theory,  subject  to  its  discipline,  were  to 
be  reclaimed,  and  were  expected  to  put  them- 
selves in  the  way  of  being  restored.  It  was  by 
force  of  this  plea,  that  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  re- 
garded as,  though  a  smoking  and  blazing  brand, 
still  a  brand  which  ought,  if  possible,  to  be 
snatched  from  the  burning. 

Upon  a  Fast,  which  was  observed  in  Massa- 
chusetts, December  13th,  1638,  on  account  of 
prevailing  sicknesses  and  heresies,  "  and  the  gen- 
eral declining  of  professors  to  the  world,"  Mr. 
Cotton  bewailed  the  state  of  things,  and  reviewed 
the  whole  controversy  caused  by  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son. He  gave,  doubtless,  a  perfectly  true  and 
candid  statement  of  his  part  in  it,  and  com- 
plained that  his  own  name  had  been  abused,  and 
his  opinions  perverted,  and  himself  made  a  cloak, 
by  seducers  and  heretics.  Doctrines  bearing  only 
a  resemblance  to  those,  which  he  had  preached, 
had  been  taught,  and  then  ascribed  to  him,  for 
the  sake  of  entrapping  others,  but  denied  by 
their  authors  to  himself,  when  he  had  expostu- 
lated with  them.  He  acknowledged  the  justice 
of  the  sentence  of  banishment  against  the  lead- 
ers in  the  mischief,  without  naming  them ;  but 
he  recommended  that  those  whom  they  had  mis- 
led should  be  dealt  with  by  the  church,  or  im- 
prisoned, or  fined,  instead  of  being  banished,  as 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  325 

this  extreme  punishment  would  sever  them  from 
all  religious  privileges,  and  lead  them  into  worse 
heresies.  The  teacher  doubtless  suggested,  at 
the  same  time,  some  church  proceedings  in  ref- 
erence to  those  at  the  Island.* 

Soon  after  this,  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  probably 
considering  that  if  she  still  had  any  relation  to 
the  Boston  church,  the  relation  was  a  recipro- 
cal one,  addressed  to  it  a  letter  of  admonition. 
The  elders  would  not  give  it  a  public  reading, 
because  the  writer  w^as  under  excommunication .f 
She  continued  to  exercise  her  gifts  in  teach- 
ing and  exhortation,  and  certainly  her  own  hard 
experience,  and  the  course  which  had  been 
pursued  at  Boston,  afforded  her  many  new,  and 
rich,  and  forcible  illustrations  of  the  difference 
between  the  "covenant  of  grace"  and  the  "cov- 
enant of  works." 

The  report  soon  came  to  Massachusetts,  that 
many  at  the  Island,  especially  those  under  the 
influence  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  new  teachings, 
were  averse  to  any  magistracy,  and  denied  its 
necessity  and  legitimacy.  This  charge  has  been 
recently  thought  to  be  slanderous.  Winthrop 
says  that,  in  a  popular  tumult,  Mr.  Coddington, 
Judge    or   Governor   of  the    Island   colony,  and 


*  Winthrop,  Vol.  I.  p.  280. 
t  Ibid.  p.  293. 


326  AMERICAN      BIOGRAPHY. 

the  other  three  magistrates,  were  put  out,  and 
only  Mr.  William  Hutchinson,  the  husband  of 
the  heretic,  was  raised  to  civil  office.  He  was 
indeed  a  magistrate  in  1640,  and  probably  would 
have  been  again,  had  not  his  life  closed  in  1642 ; 
but  he  was  not  alone  in  office,  as  there  was 
at  the  same  time,  as  well  as  before  and  after- 
wards, a  Governor,  and  deputy,  and  three  other 
magistrates.* 

The  next  information  concerning  the  heretics 
at  the  Island  was,  that  they  had  "  gathered  a 
church  in  a  disordered  way,"  consisting  of 
excommunicated  and  admonished  members  of 
the  Boston  and  Roxbury  churches,  of  members 
still  attached  to  these  churches,  who  had  neither 
been  censured  nor  formally  dismissed,  and  of 
some  new  professors.     This  was  a  terrible  scan- 

*  Letter  of  Chief  Justice  Eddy  in  a  note  to  Savage's 
Winthrop,  Vol.  I.  p.  296.  It  would  seem,  however,  as 
if  tliere  was  some  ground  for  the  charge  of  dislike  to 
magistracy  imputed  to  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  The  following 
evidence  appears  direct.  It  is  given  by  Baylie,  in  his 
"  Dissuasive  from  the  Errors  of  the  Time,"  p.  150,  on  the 
authority  of  Roger  Williams,  when  visiting  England.  "  Mr. 
Williams  related  to  me  that  Mistress  Hutchinson,  (with 
whom  he  was  familiarly  acquainted,  and  of  whom  he  spake 
much  good,)  after  she  had  come  to  Rhode  Island,  and  her 
husband  had  been  made  Governor  [magistrate]  there,  she 
persuaded  him  to  lay  down  his  office  upon  the  opinion, 
which  newly  she  had  taken  up  of  the  unlawfulness  of 
magistracy." 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  327 

dal  to  all,  wliose  religious  faith  loved  to  mani- 
fest itself  within  the  decent  restraints  of  order. 
Those  whom  the  Boston  church  might  still  hope 
to  influence  were  at  once  called  in  question  for 
partaking  in  such  a  sin.  A  few,  who  came  under 
the  censure,  were  wont  frequently  to  visit  Bos- 
ton on  their  own  or  on  others'  business,  and 
they  were  dealt  with  as  often  as  opportunity 
oftered.  Thus  the  discord  still  continued,  the 
controversy  was  still  kept  open  ;  and  merely  by 
force  of  performing  such  acts  of  discipline  so  of- 
ten, the  great  majority  became  gradually  weaned 
from  attachment  to  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  Mr.  Cod- 
dington,  the  leader  of  the  new  colony,  being 
on  a  visit  to  Boston,  was,  like  the  rest,  brought 
under  the  discipline  of  the  church,  and  because 
he  only  acknowledged  a  measure  of  fault,  and 
would  not  admit  the  whole  sin  charged  upon 
him,  he  was   solemnly  admonished. 

Popular  regard,  at  least  as  far  as  the  more 
superstitious  and  timid  among  the  people  were 
interested,  was  in  a  great  measure  turned  from 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  by  a  misfortune  which  befell 
her  as  a  mother,  and  which  was  exaggerated  into 
a  horrible  and  loathsome  tale.  Even  Winthrop 
gives  at  length  all  the  particulars  in  which  a 
deformity  of  nature,  with  all  its  sickening  mi- 
nutiae, is  construed  into  a  fearful  warning  from  a 
special  providence.     It  became  one.  of  his  mag- 


328  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

nanimity  and  excellent  wisdom,  to  have  reflect- 
ed whether  the  vexations  and  journeys  to  which 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  had  been  subjected,  her  "  fears 
and  tossings  to  and  fro,"  were  not  the  more 
natural  cause  of  her  subjection  to  a  not  unusual 
visitation.  Mrs.  Dyer,  one  of  her  devoted  fol- 
lowers, afterwards  hanged  in  Boston  as  a  Quaker, 
was  a  subject  of  the  same  distressing  fruit  of  trav- 
ail. Both  these  cases  were  not  only  thoroughly 
examined  by  physicians  and  magistrates,  but 
were  even  discoursed  upon  from  pulpits,  and 
made  public  over  Christendom. 

The  church  in  Boston  concluded  upon  send- 
ing a  deputation  of  its  members  to  the  Island,  to 
make  one  more  attempt  to  reclaim  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson and  her  followers.  Mr.  Welde  says,  that 
"  four  men  of  a  lovely  and  winning  spirit "  were 
sent  on  this  errand ;  but  by  the  record  it  appears 
there  were  but  three,  namely,  Captain  Edward 
Gibbons,  Mr.  William  Hibbins,  and  Mr.  John  Ol- 
iver. An  account  of  their  mission  is  extant  in 
manuscript.  As  this  has  never  been  made  pub- 
lic, and  as  our  histories  contain  no  similar  de- 
tails of  acts  of  church  discipline,  it  is  here  given 
entire.  The  return  was  made  in  the  meeting- 
house, after  Mr.  Cotton  had  finished  his  usual 
public  exposition,  March  16th,   1640.* 

*  For  the  extracts  which  follow,  relating  to  the  proceed- 
ings in  the  church  at  Boston,  I  am  indebted  to  a  thick 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  329 

'"Pastor.  Those  three  brethren  that  were 
sent  by  the  church  to  those  wandering  sheep  at 
the  Island  being  now  returned,  accordinge  to 
the  custom  of  the  churches  and  servants  of  God 
in  the  Scripture,  when  they  did  returne,  they 
gave  an  account  to  the  church  of  God's  deal- 
inge  with  them,  the  passages  of  his  providences, 
and  how  God  carried  them  alonge ;  it  is  ex- 
pected of  the  church  that  some  one  of  you,  or 
all  of  you  one  after  another,  should  declare  the 
same,  that  the  church  may  have  matter  to 
praise  God  with  you. 

"Brother  Hibbins.  We  think  it  our  duty 
to  give  an  account  to  the  church  of  God's 
dealinge  with  us  in  our  journey  out  and  in, 
and  of  the  success  of  our  business  when  we 
came  to  our  journey's  end,  at  the  Island.     The 


quarto  MS.,  belonging  to  the  Massachusetts  Historical  So- 
ciety, and  which,  to  an  antiquarian,  is  of  great  value. 
It  contains  the  laborious  penmanship  of  Captain  Robert 
Keayne,  a  famous  merchant  of  Boston,  from  1635  to  1655, 
and  the  founder  and  first  captain  of  the  Ancient  and  Hon- 
orable Artillery  Company.  He  may  well  be"  concluded  to 
have  been  on  the  Orthodox  side  in  the  Antinomian  con- 
troversy ;  for  it  was  to  him,  at  his  house,  that  all  the  disaf- 
fected were  ordered  to  deliver  up  their  arms.  His  volume 
contains  notes  of  Mr.  Cotton's  Expositions  of  the  Gospels, 
and  of  several  matters  of  discipline  and  debate  before  the 
church.  He  himself  came  under  its  censure,  for  making 
exorbitant  profits  on  his  goods,  though  he  does  not  record  it. 


330  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

second  day  of  the  vveeke  we  reached  the  first 
night  to  Mount  Wollistone,  where  we  were  re- 
freshed at  our  brother  Savage's  house,  whereby 
we  were  comfortably  fitted  for  our  journey  the 
next  day,  in  which,  by  the  good  mercy  of  God 
and  the  help  of  your  prayers,  God  did  accom 
pany  us  with  seasonable  weather.  And  in  ou 
journey,  the  first  observable  providence  of  God 
that  presented  itself  to  our  view,  and  especially 
to  my  own  observation,  which  was  in  provid- 
ing for  me  a  comfortable  lodging  that  second 
night,  which  was  the  thing  I  most  feared,  be- 
cause I  never  was  used  to  lie  without  a  bed. 
There  was  one  that  met  us  in  the  way  that 
came  from  Cohannet,  who  had  a  house  to  him- 
self, and  he,  of  his  own  accord,  did  give  us  leave 
to  lodge  and  abide  in  his  house  that  night,  where 
myself  especially,  and  all  of  us,  had  comforta- 
ble lodging  for  that  night,  which  was  a  great 
refreshing  to  us,  and  a  dehverance  from  my 
fear. 

"The  next  providence  of  God  that  fell  out 
in  our  journey,  was  some  manifestations  of  God's 
hand  against  us ;  for  being  the  fourth  day  to  pass 
over  a  river  in  a  canoe  in  which  was  eight  of 
US;  our  canoe  did  hang  upon  a  tree,  to  our  very 
great  danger,  the  water  running  swiftly  away. 
Now  my  ignorance  was  such  that  I  feared  no 
danger,    though   those   who   had   more    skill  saw 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  331 

we  were  in  imminent  danger.  Here  our  God 
delivered    us. 

''But  now,  we  coming  safe  over  the  water, 
it  pleased  God  to  exercise  us  much  in  the  loss 
of  our  brother  Oliver,  whose  company  we  missed 
and  did  not  perceive  it,  he  falling  into  Mr.  Lut- 
tall's  company,  that  was  agoing  the  way  to  the 
Island ;  then  they  lost  their  way.  And  as  our 
hearts  were  full  of  fear  and  care  for  our  broth- 
er, so  was  his  for  us.  The  fear  was  increased 
on  both  sides,  because  there  fell  a  great  snow, 
and  very  hard  weather  upon  it,  and  it  was  to 
our  great  rejoicing  when  we  met  one  another 
again  in  health  and  safety,  according  to  the  good 
hand  of  our  God,  that  was  upon  us  in  our  jour- 
ney ;  and  they  had  been  exposed  to  much  dan- 
ger in  that  cold  season,  for  want  of  a  fire,  and 
all  means  to  make  it,  had  not  the  Lord  beyond 
expectation  provided  for  them,  to  bring  forth  a 
Httle  powder  through  the  shot  of  the  piece. 
Now  the  fifth  day  we  were  to  go  over  another 
river,  where  we  were  in  great  danger,  our  canoe 
falling  upon  a  rock,  which,  had  not  some  of 
our  brethren,  more  skilful,  stepped  out  off  the 
rock,  and  put  off  the  canoe,  our  danger  had  been 
very  great.  But  God  brought  us  safe  at  last 
on  the  sixth  day,  viz.,  the  28th  day  of  the  12th 
month,  to  our  great  rejoicing. 

"Brother  Oliver.      Now  for  the  success  of 


332  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

our  journey  to  our  brethren  at  the  Island.  We 
acquainted  them  with  our  purpose  in  coming, 
and  desired  that  they  would  procure  us  a  meet- 
ing that  day ;  but  for  reasons  in  their  own  breast, 
and  because  of  the  snow,  they  did  not  think 
meet  then  to  give  us  a  meeting ;  but  the  next 
day  they  promised  and  did  give  us  a  meeting, 
Mr.  Aspinwall,  our  brother  Baulston,  brother 
Sanfoard,  and  others ;  and  we  delivered  our  mes- 
sage and  the  church's  letter,  which  they  read 
and  gave  us  satisfactory  answers.  The  next 
day  we  went  to  Portsmouth,  where  being  en- 
tertained at  our  brother  Cogshall's  house,  we 
desired  them  to  procure  us  a  meeting,  to  de- 
liver our  message  and  the  church's  letter.  But 
when  we  expected  a  meeting,  Mr.  Cogshall  sent 
us  word,  that  by  reason  of  a  civil  meeting,  that 
was  before  appointed.  But  for  a  meeting,  they 
did  not  know  what  power  one  church  hath  over 
another  church,  and  they  denied  our  commission, 
and  refused  to  let  our  letter  be  read.  And 
they  conceive  one  church  hath  not  power  over 
the  members  of  another  church,  and  do  not  think 
they  are  tied  to  us  by  our  covenant.  And  so 
were  we  fain  to  take  all  their  answers  by  go- 
ing to  their  several  houses.  Mr.  Hutchinson 
told  us  he  was  more  nearly  tied  to  his  wife 
than  to  the  church ;  he  thought  her  to  be  a 
dear  saint  and  servant  of  God. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  333 

•^  We  came  then  to  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  and 
told  her  that  we  had  a  message  to  do  to  her 
from  the  Lord,  and  from  our  church.  She  an- 
swered, 'There  are  lords  many  and  gods  many, 
but  I  acknowledge  but  one  Lord.  Which  Lord 
do  you  mean  ? '  We  answered,  '  We  came  in 
the  name  of  but  one  Lord,  and  that  is  God.' 
'  Then,'  saith  she,  '  so  far  we  agree ;  and  where 
we  do  agree,  let  it  be  set  down.'  Then  we  told 
her,  '  We  had  a  message  to  her  from  the  church 
of  Christ  in  Boston.'  She  replied,  '  She  knew  no 
church  but  one.'  We  told  her,  'In  Scripture, 
the  Holy  Ghost  calls  them  churches.'  She  said, 
'  Christ  had  but  one  spouse.'  We  told  her,  '  He 
had  in  some  sort  as  many  spouses  as  saints.' 
But  for  our  church,  she  would  not  acknowledge 
it  any  church  of  Christ. 

"  Mr.  Cotton.  Time  being  far  spent,  it  will 
not  be  seasonable  to  speak  much.  We  bless 
God  with  our  brethren  for  their  protection  in 
their  journey,  asunder  and  together.  We  find 
they  have  faithfully  and  wisely  discharged  the 
trust  and  care  put  upon  them. 

"  For  the  answers  of  our  brethren  at  the  Isl- 
and, they  are  divers.  As  for  those  at  Ports- 
mouth, that  they  would  not  receive  their  mes- 
sage and  commission,  except  they  would  present 
it  to  their  church,  which  had  been  to  have  ac- 
knowledged  them   a   lawful   church,  which  they 


334  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

had  no  commission  to  do ;  now  these  do  wholly 
refuse  to  hear  the  church,  or  to  hold  any  sub- 
mission or  subjection  to  the  church ;  I  would 
not  expect  any  answer  now,  but  that  the  church 
consider  of  it  till  the  next  day.  Now  consider, 
First,  whether  this  be  not  a  transgression  of  the 
rule  in  Matt,  xviii.  '  If  they  will  not  hear  you, 
tell  the  church,'  and  so  fall  under  the  censure 
of  the  church.  Secondly,  they  were  in  cove- 
nant with  us  as  a  wife  to  the  husband,  (I  Cor. 
vii.  15,)  but  like  a  harlot  she  walks  home  for 
all  her  covenant.  Now  if  they  will  go,  whether 
we  be  not  discharged  of  our  covenant  with  them, 
and  so  cut  them  off  as  no  members ;  we  shall 
consider  with  elders  of  other  churches  what  is 
best  to  be  done  in  such  cases. 

*'  Others  do  not  refuse  to  hear  the  church, 
but  answer  as  far  as  they  can  go;  only  some 
scruple  the  covenant,  and  others,  other  things, 
but  do  not  reject  the  church,  but  do  honor  and 
esteem  of  us  as  churches  of  Christ.  Now  con- 
sider, whether  it  is  not  meet  that  we  should 
first  write  to  them,  and  labor  to  satisfy  them, 
and  to  take  off  their  grounds,  and  see  if  they 
may  be  reduced  before  we  go  to  further  pro- 
ceedings with  them.  I  would  know  how  far 
the  wives  do  consent  or  dissent  from  their  hus- 
bands, or  whether  they  be  as  resolute  and  ob- 
stinately peremptory  as  they. 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  335 

''  There  is  another  sort,  and  that  was  of  such 
as  are  excommunicate.  Now  we  have  gone  as 
far  with  them  as  I  think  we  can  go,  except  they 
did  show  some  pertinacy  and  obstinacy  against 
Christ  Jesus,  and  then  the  greater  censure  of 
anathema  maranatha,  that  is  for  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son. But  such  as  start  aside  from  church  cen- 
sure and  rules  out  of  ignorance,  another  course 
is  to  be  taken  with  them,  to  reduce  them  again, 
if  we  can,  as  Mrs.  Harding  and  Mrs.  Dyer,  who 
acknowledge  the  churches,  and  desire  commu- 
nion with  us  still.  And  for  Mr.  Aspinwall,  he 
now  being  satisfied  of  the  righteous  and  just 
proceedings  of  the  church  in  casting  out  some 
of  our  members,  and  so  refuseth  to  have  any 
communion  with  them  in  the  things  of  God. 

"I  pray  consider  of  these  things  against  the 
next  Lord's  day,  according  to  the  distributions 
of  the  qualitie  and  nature  of  their  offences  ;  as 
those  that  are  necessarily  tied  there  for  a  home ; 
as  children  to  their  parents,  and  wives  to  hus- 
bands, and  others  that  stand  out  of  obstinacy. 

''  I  see  the  devil  goes  about  to  ^harden  the 
hearts  of  brethren  against  church  censures,  and 
so  to  despise  all  church  proceedings,  and  there- 
upon question  church  covenant,  to  shake  all 
churches,  and  to  question  it  altogether,  or  some 
parts  of  it,  and  how  far  it  binds,  and  whether 
it   be  a  part   of  tlie    covenant  of  grace    or    no, 


336  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

which  I  hope  will  be  more  and  more  cleared 
up." 

We  learn  from  the  same  record,  which  with 
painful  faithfulness  has  chronicled  the  above, 
that  the  matter  came  again  before  the  church 
in  the  month  following. 

"Pastor.  Brethren,  you  know  the  business 
of  the  Island  hath  been  a  long  time  propound- 
ed and  taken  by  the  church  into  consideration, 
and  now  we  should  draw  to  some  issue  and 
determination.  You  know  the  cases  of  them 
there  do  much  differ ;  some  are  under  admo- 
nition, and  some  under  excommunication,  and 
some  have  given  satisfaction  in  part  to  the 
church,  and  do  hold  themselves  still  as  members 
of  the  church,  and  do  yet  hearken  to  us  and 
seek  to  give  satisfaction.  And  others  there  be 
that  do  renounce  the  power  of  the  church,  and 
do  refuse  to  hear  the  church,  as  Mr.  Codding- 
ton,  Mr.  Dyer,  and  Mr.  Cogshall.  The  two 
first  have  been  questioned  in  the  church,  and 
dealt  with,  and  are  under  admonition,  and  have 
been  so  long,  yet  this  act  of  the  church  hath 
been  so  far  from  doing  them  any  good,  that  they 
are  rather  grown  worse  under  the  same.  For 
Mr.  Coddington  being  dealt  withall  about  hear- 
ing excommunicated  persons  prophesy,  he  was 
sensible  of  an  evil  in  it,  and  said  he  had  not 
before  so  well  considered  of  it.     Yet,  since,  he 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  337 

hath  not  only  heard  such  by  accident,  as  be- 
fore, but  both  himself,  and  our  brother  Dyer, 
and  Mr.  Cogshall,  have  gathered  themselves  into 
church  fellowship,  not  regarding  the  covenant 
that  they  have  made  with  this  church,  neither 
have  taken  our  advice  and  consent  herein,  nei- 
ther have  they  regarded  it,  but  they  have  joined 
themselves  in  fellowship  with  some  that  are  ex- 
communicated, whereby  they  come  to  have  a 
constant  fellowship  with  them,  and  that  in  a 
church  way,  and  when  we  sent  the  messengers 
of  the  church  to  them,  to  admonish  them,  and 
treat  with  them  about  such  offences,  they  were 
so  far  from  expressing  any  sorrow  or  giving  any 
satisfaction,  that  they  did  altogether  refuse  to 
hear  the  church.  And  in  this  case  the  rule  of 
Christ  is  plain.  We  know  not  how  otherwise 
to  proceed  with  such  than  by  cutting  them  off 
from  us ;  '  They  that  will  not  hear  the  church, 
let  them  be  to  you  as  a  heathen  and  a  publi- 
can.' Yet  because  we  know  not  how  far  God 
may  work  relenting  in  any  of  their  hearts,  since 
the  church  messengers  came  from  them,  it  is 
thought  meet  to  forbear  our  proceeding  a  little 
longer  against  them,  and  patiently  to  wait  awhile 
to  see  if  yet  they  will  endeavor  to  give  satis- 
faction ;  if  not,  we  shall  take  a  seasonable  time 
to  proceed  with  them." 

This  conclusion,  announced  by  the  pastor   to 
VOL.  VI.  22 


338  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

the  whole  church,  is  to  be  received  as  the  re- 
sult of  private  conference  among  the  elders,  who 
usually  considered  such  matters  before  making 
them  public.  These  fresh  and  free  reports,  made 
at  the  time  when  feeling  was  warm  and  in- 
terest unabated,  will  convey  to  us  better  than 
any  account  of  a  later  age,  a  fair  representation 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  strife  gradually 
subsided  into  harmless  ecclesiastical  gossip. 

The  same  record  transmits  the  following  par- 
ticulars concerning  Francis  Hutchinson,  who,  as 
will  be  remembered,  had  been  admonished  by 
the  Boston  church,  because  he  would  not  vote 
for  the  admonition  of  his  mother.  The  date 
is  July  20th,   1640. 

"  Francis  Hutchinson,  living  at  the  Island,  or 
Portsmouth,  with  his  father  and  mother,  so  that 
he  cannot  frequent  the  church,  nor  the  church 
discharge  her  duty  in  watching  over  him,  de- 
sired, by  a  letter  to  the  church,  that  we  would 
dismiss  him  to  God  and  to  the  word  of  his 
grace,  seeing  he  knew  of  no  church  there  to 
be  dismissed  to. 

"It  was  answered  by  our  teacher,  and  con- 
sented to  by  the  church,  that  there  was  no 
rule  in  Scripture  for  such  a  dismission.  We 
may  recommend  him  to  God,  and  may  dismiss 
him  to  the  word  of  his  grace,  when  there  is 
any  such    word    there    to    dismiss    him    to,    but 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  339 

not  till  then,  seeing  the  covenant  of  the  church 
is  an  everlasting  covenant,  and  no  church  hath 
power,  when  God  hath  added  any  member  to 
the  church  and  tied  him,  to  release  him,  but 
to  another  church.  And  though  we  cannot 
perform  all  our  duties  to  him  so  far  off,  yet 
some  we  may.  Again,  the  church  of  Jerusa- 
lem had  proselytes  that  lived  at  Rome,  at  Ethi- 
opia, and  in  divers  remote  places,  which  could 
not  come  to  Jerusalem,  it  may  be  not  once  a 
year ;  yet  they  do  not  discharge  them  .  of  their 
covenant,  though  their  journey  was  long,  tedi- 
ous, dangerous,  and  costly,  to  come  so  far  to 
worship,  or  to  offer  a  sacrifice  to  God  in  Jeru- 
salem. But  they  came  when  they  could,  and 
that  is  accepted,  and  so  may  his  be.  Those 
that  dwelt  not  in  Jerusalem,  God  required  that 
they  should  come  to  Jerusalem  but  three  times 
a  year,  and  if  not  so  often,  then  once  a  year, 
and  that  at  the  Feast  of  Pentecost,  which  was 
the  best  time  in  the  year  to  travel  in.  God 
requires  no  more  at  the  hands  of  his  people 
than  he  gives  them  ability  to  perform.-  If  some 
of  our  members,  in  their  journey  to  sea,  should 
be  taken  by  pirates,  or  carried  to  Algier,  or 
should  dwell  in  Constantinople,  that  doth  not 
discharge  him  of  his  covenant,  nor  hath  the 
church  power  to  dismiss  him,  except  to  another 
church ;  but  there  he  is  to  pray  for  the  church, 


340  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

and  long  after  fellowship  with  it,  and  the  church 
must  even  there  take  what  care  they  can  of 
them,  by  praying  for  them,  by  writing  to  them, 
and  giving  them  counsel  and  instruction  there, 
to  stick  to  the  grace  of  God,  and  to  help  them 
even  with  our  purse,  if  need  were." 

This  public  expression  of  opinion  by  Mr. 
Cotton  was  made  in  consideration  of  a  letter 
written  by  Francis  Hutchinson,  desiring  dismis- 
sion from  the  church  because  of  his  necessary 
distance  of  abode,  and  his  obligation  to  attend 
upon  his  parents.  Mr.  Cotton's  formal  reply, 
in  the  name  of  the  Boston  church,  to  this  ap- 
plication, has  been  preserved,  and  its  contents 
agree  with  the  preceding  report.*  The  letter 
of  Mr.  Cotton  is  dated  at  Boston,  August  12th, 
1640,  and  is  addressed  "  To  our  beloved  broth- 
er, Francis  Hutchinson,  at  Aquethnick."  The 
allowance  made  in  it  by  the  elders,  that  they 
heard  "  a  good  report  of  his  constancy  in  the 
truth  and  faith  of  the  gospel,"  would  imply  that 
the  son  did  not  entirely  accord  with  his  mother. 
Reference  is  made  in  the  epistle  to  a  larger 
and  fuller  letter,  which  had  been  written  to  his 
parents  by  the  church  and  to  the  whole  com- 
pany of  wanderers  from  the  fold,  who  were 
then  at  the  Island. 

*  Hutchinson's  papers,  Mass,  Hist.  Coll.  2d  Series,  Vol. 
X.  p.  184. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  341 

One  more  public  rehearsal  of  the  matter,  as 
had  before  the  church,  out  of  many  of  the  same 
character  of  which  there  is  no  record,  is  found 
in  the  same  manuscript  which  has  already  served 
us.  As  this  last  review  of  the  case  probably 
made  the  substance  of  Mr.  Cotton's  letter,  and 
as  it  gives  us  a  few  particulars  of  interest  in 
the  controversy,  it  is  here  put  into  print  for  the 
first  time. 

After  the  usual  exercise  by  Mr.  Cotton,  on  the 
26th  of  September,  1640,  the  pastor,  Mr.  Wil- 
son, as  reported  by  a  listener,  said ; 

"  You  have  heard  this  day  what  the  estate  of 
every  man  by  nature  is ;  to  wander  and  go 
astray  from  the  fold  of  Christ,  and  to  be  carried 
away  with  every  puff  of  vain  doctrine.  But  such 
is  the  mercy  of  God  to  set  up  officers,  to  send 
out  disciples,  to  set  them  up  again.  And  Christ 
himself  went  a-fishing  for  souls,  which  puts  us 
not  out  of  hope.  For  you  know,  brethren,  we 
have  some  stray  souls  that  are  gone  from  us, 
some  out  of  ignorance,  others  out  of  pride  and 
arrogance,  and  have  forsaken  the  fold  of  Christ, 
and  have  stopped  their  ears  against  the  counsel 
of  Christ,  to  the  grief  of  their  brethren.  For 
the  church  hath  sent  messengers  to  them,  and 
such  messages  as  might  have  won  and  persuad- 
ed them ;  but  they  have  stopped  their  ears,  and 


342  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

hardened  their  necks,  and  some  made  one  ex- 
cuse, and  some  another,  to  hinder  their  return  to 
us.  You  know  there  hath  been  much  patience 
and  lenity  used  towards  them,  some  under  one 
censure,  and  some  under  another  ;  but  because 
we  know  not  what  God  may  do,  or  who  may  be 
called  from  them,  God  hath  put  it  again  into 
the  heart  of  our  teacher  to  give  an  answer  to 
such  scruples  and  objections  as  they  have  made 
the  causes  of  their  hinderances  from  returning  to 
uSj  that  the  whole  church  may  be  witnesses  of 
our  cares  and  endeavors  to  gain  them  and  call 
them  back,  or,  if  they  shall  obstinately  harden 
their  necks,  then  to  proceed  to  such  further  cen- 
sures as  the  church  shall  be  guided  to.  The 
writing  is  directed  to  them  all  that  are  not  un- 
der the  censure  of  the  church." 

Then  follow  the  objections  raised  by  the  mem- 
bers who  were  under  discipline,  with  the  several 
answers  to  them.  The  first  three  of  these  ob- 
jections are,  that  the  church  had  first  broken 
its  covenant  with  the  exiles  ;  that  the  covenant 
binds  no  longer  than  a  member  remains  with  the 
church  ;  that  parents  and  wives  being  cast  out 
of  the  church,  necessity  is  laid  upon  others  to 
go  with  them,  to  supply  their  wants. 

The  fourth  objection,  with  what  follows,  is  in- 
teresting. 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  343 

"  Objection  4.  But  the  Court  hath  censured 
us,  and  drove  us  out  of  the  country,  and  Mr. 
Winthrop  advised  us  to  depart. 

"Answer.  Mr.  Wmthrop  affirms  his  advice 
was  not  as  Governor,  nor  as  the  mouth  of  the 
Court,  but  only  in  Christian  love,  to  depart  for  a 
time,  till  they  could  give  the  Court  satisfaction. 
He  ansvi^ers,  he  did  not  advise  all  to  depart,  for 
he  persuaded  Mr.  Coddington  earnestly  to  stay, 
and  did  undertake  to  make  his  peace  with  the 
Court.  Neither  did  the  Court  banish  or  drive 
any  away  but  two,  Mr.  Aspinw^all  and  Mrs. 
Hutchinson.  Some  were  under  no  ofience  at 
all  with  the  Court,  as  our  brother  Hazard. 

"  Objection  5.  Persecution  dissipateth  the 
church,  and  so  it  hath  done  us. 

"Answer.  Persecution  doth  not  always  dissi- 
pate and  dissolve  churches,  but  scatters  them, 
though  the  covenant  cannot  be  dissolved.  But 
the  church  in  Boston  is  not  dissipated,  and  there- 
fore you  are  not  loosed  from  the  covenant  of 
the  church. 

"  Objection  6.  All  the  saints  in  ,the  world 
make  but  one  church,  and  therefore  there  is  but 
one  covenant. 

"Answer.  All  the  saints  do  make  up  more 
than  one  visible,  particular  church.  If  all  saints 
made  but  one  church,  then  the  officers  of  one 
church  had  power  over  another,  and   then  how 


344  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

can  the  church  meet  all  together  in  one  place, 
as  the  apostle  speaks? 

''  Objection  7.  Saith  one,  I  am  freed  from 
the  covenant  of  the  church,  because  of  the 
church's  breach  of  covenant  first,  in  that  some 
of  the  church  had  a  hand  in  our  brother  Wheel- 
wright's censure  and  banishment,  and  the  church 
hath  not  dealt  with  those  members  for  it. 

'■^Answer  1.  If  the  church  should  break  cov- 
enant with  you,  yet  that  doth  not  loose  the  cov- 
enant between  the  church  and  you. 

*'  Answer  2.  Though  some  of  the  members  of 
the  church  had  a  hand  in  his  censure  and  ban- 
ishment, yet  it  follows  not  that  the  church  should 
deal  with  them,  when  he  suffered  justly  for  his 
errors,  and  his  misapplying  of  his  doctrine  to 
raise  up  much  trouble  and  commotion,  to  the 
great  distraction  both  of  church  and  common- 
wealth. Therefore,  we  cannot  yet  see  that  the 
church  hath  violated  their  covenant  with  you,  or 
dissolved  your  covenant  with  us.  Therefore, 
brethren,  do  not  walk  like  lambs  in  a  large  place, 
but  return,  that  we  may  watch  over  you ;  for  we 
seek  not  yours,  but  you,  and  your  good  and 
peace. 

"  If  these  letters  be  such  as  your  hearts  go 
along  with,  and  if  the  church  consent,  we  should 
send  the  name  of  the  church  for  the  recalling 
of  some  of  them.     If  you  be  silent,  we  shall  take 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  345 

your  silence  for  consent ;  if  you  consent  not,  you 
have  liberty  to  express  yourselves. 

"  Brother  Button.  I  would  express  my 
thoughts.  I  being  at  the  Island  this  week,  they 
expressed  themselves  to  me,  that  if  we  do  send 
to  them  in  a  church  way,  they  would  not  hear 
us.  Therefore,  I  think  the  best  way  were  to 
send  private  messengers  to  deal  with  them  first. 

*'  Pastor.  That  hath  been  done  already ; 
and  therefore,  if  they  will  not  hear  the  church, 
it  is  plain  that  the  church  should  take  some 
other  course  with  them.  Let  them  be  to  the 
church  as  heathens. 

"  Brother  Hutchinson.  I  desire  to  express 
myself,  though  I  am  loath  to  differ  from  my 
brethren.  Yet  I  would  not  have  my  silence 
wrap  up  my  consent  with  the  consent  of  the 
brethren,  seeing  the  letters  seem  to  be  a  justifi- 
cation of  all  proceedings.  As  I  would  not  con- 
demn the  church  or  commonwealth,  so  I  would 
not  justify  all  that  is  done. 

"  Pastor.  You  lay  yourself  open  to  the  sus- 
picion of  your  brethren.  Therefore,  either  you 
should  have  been  silent,  or  express  the  reasons 
of  your  dissent.  If  you  do  not  justify  the  pro- 
ceedings of  church  and  commonwealth,  you  cast 
reproach  upon  them,  and  censure  them,  which 
you  ought  not  to  do,  for  both  church  and  com- 
monwealth dealt  justly  in  casting  out  your 
mother. 


346  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

''Mr.  Hutchinson.  I  desire  to  speak  to  no 
particulars,  only  I  cannot  approve  or  consent  to 
all  that  hath  been  done." 

While  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  at  Rhode  Island, 
one  of  her  daughters  was  married  to  a  young 
minister  named  Collins.  He  had  been  perse- 
cuted for  non-conformity  at  St.  Christopher's  or 
Barbadoes,  where  he  had  exercised  his  ministry, 
and  came  to  New  Haven  in  the  summei  of 
1640.  He  taught  a  school,  for  a  time,  at  Hart- 
ford, and  was  much  esteemed  for  piety  there, 
as  he  had  been  at  Gloucester,  in  England.* 
When  he  heard  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  opinions, 
he  was  troubled  by  them,  and  went  to  Newport 
to  learn  more  of  them.  Here  he  became  so 
warmly  attached  to  her  and  her  family,  as  to 
become  her  son-in-law.  Espousing  her  cause 
with  warmth,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  some  one  in 
Boston,  in  which,  according  to  Governor  Win- 
throp,  "  he  charged  all  our  churches  and  minis- 
ters to  be  anti-Christian,  and  many  other  reproach- 
ful speeches,  terming  our  king.  King  of  Babylon, 
and  sought  to  possess  the  people's  hearts  with 
evil  thoughts  of  our  government  and  of  our 
churches." 

Collins  and  Francis  Hutchinson  made  a  visit 
to  Boston  in  the  summer  of  1641,  and  were  im- 

*  Hubbard,  p.  341. 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  347 

mediately  and  forcibly  brought  before  the  Gov- 
ernor, and  council,  and  elders,  the  former  to 
answer  for  his  letter,  and  the  latter  for  calling 
the  church  in  Boston  "  a  strumpet."  They  were 
imprisoned  until  Collins  should  pay  a  fine  of 
one  hundred  pounds,  and  his  companion  a  fine 
of  fifty  pounds.  This,  however,  was  rather  an 
unprofitable  measure.  Winthrop  says,  "  We  as- 
sessed the  fines  the  higher,  partly  that  by  occa- 
sion thereof  they  might  be  the  longer  kept  in 
from  doing  harm,  (for  they  were  kept  close  pris- 
oners,) and  also  because  that  family  had  put  tne 
country  to  so  much  charge  in  the  Synod,  and 
other  occasions,  to  the  value  of  five  hundred 
pounds,  at  least.  But  after,  because  the  winter 
drew  on,  and  the  prison  was  inconvenient,  we 
abated  them  to  forty  pounds  and  twenty  pounds. 
But  they  seemed  not  wilhng  to  pay  any  thing. 
They  refused  to  come  to  the  church  assemblies 
except  they  were  led,  and  so  they  came  duly. 
At  last,  we  took  their  own  bonds  for  their  fine, 
and  so  dismissed  them."  They  were  forbidden, 
on  their  release,  to  return  to  the  jurisdiction, 
under  pain  of  death.  Nevertheless,  they  found 
some  sympathy  in  the  church ;  and  even  the 
constable  who  had  the  charge  of  them  was  fined 
for  his  favor  to  them.* 

*  Winthrop,  Vol.  II.  pp.  38-40,  and  Court  Records. 


348  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY, 


CHAPTER  XL 

Mrs.  Hutchiyison  at  the  Island.  —  Death  of  her 
Hushand.  —  She  removes  with  her  Family  to 
the    Dutch.  —  Their  Massacre   by   the    Indians. 

—  Effect  of  the  News  in  Boston.  —  Restora- 
tion of  Harmony.  —  Governor  Winthrop.  — 
Mr.  Coddington  remains  at  the  Island.  —  Mr. 
As])inwall  recants,  and  returns  to  Boston.  — 
Mr.  iJ^eelwright  apologizes,  and  is  released 
from  his  Banishment.  —  His  subsequent  Course. 

—  Report  of  the  Controversy  in  England. — 
Mr.  Cotton  reproached.  —  His  Disclaimer.  — 
Review  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson^  Course  and  Opin- 
ions. —  Her  Descendants. 

The  last  years  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  life  were 
clouded  with  many  trials,  and  it  closed  at  last 
in  a  dreadful  tragedy.  The  treatment  of  her 
son  and  her  son-in-law,  in  Boston,  proved  to 
her  that  the  ill  feeling  against  her  increased 
rather  than  diminished,  and  she  continued  to 
be  annoyed  with  messages,  ostensibly  designed 
to  bring  her  into  submission  to  the  church, 
which  had  cast  her  out  from  its  fold.  As  far 
as  was  possible,  she  and  her  friends  maintained 
amongst  them  religious  institutions,  and  she  con- 
tinued   to   exercise    her   gifts.     The    freedom    of 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  349 

speech  and  opinion,  allowed  in  the  new  colony, 
could  not  fail  to  be  abused  by  fanatics  and 
disorganizers,  and  there  was  enough  in  her  own 
views  to  let  in  many  wild  and  dangerous  fan- 
cies. The  natural  circumstances  attending  the 
settlement  of  the  Island,  under  a  questionable 
Indian  deed,  and  by  a  voluntary  compact,  de- 
signed to  give  as  small  a  compass  as  possible 
to  the  civil  law,  and  no  restraint  whatever  to 
the  profession  and  practice  of  religion ;  these 
circumstances,  and  others  which  will  suggest 
themselves,  were  not,  it  must  be  confessed,  re- 
markably favorable  to  the  happiness  of  the  ex- 
iles from  Massachusetts.  As  far  as  concerned 
the  obtaining  of  the  means  necessary  for  the 
support  of  life,  these  were  procured  as  the  re- 
ward of  labor,  at  the  Island,  at  least  as  securely 
and  abundantly  as  in  the  Bay  colony. 

Mr.  Hutchinson  died  in  1642.  The  fact,  that 
he  shared  the  fortune  of  his  wife  through  all 
her  trials,  is  certainly  no  feeble  evidence  of  her 
private  virtues,  and  of  her  faithfulness  in  all 
her  domestic  relations.  From  all  the  records 
which  have  come  down  to  us,  and  in  all  the 
proceedings  against  her,  there  is  no  intimation 
of  any  alienation,  or  opposition,  on  his  part,  to 
her  views.  He  certainly  does  not  appear  to 
have  taken  a  public  stand  in  her  defence,  nor 
even   to   have   offered  any   protest   to   the    civil 


350  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

and  ecclesiastical  dealing  with  her.  This,  how- 
ever, he  may  nevertheless  have  done.  But  he 
never  deserted  her ;  he  never,  so  far  as  we 
know,  felt  any  thing  but  entire  approval  of  her 
whole  course.  We  have  before  seen,  that  to 
the  messengers  from  the  church  at  Boston  he 
professed  an  undiminished  attachment  to  her, 
and  esteemed  her  as  a  "  dear  saint  and  servant 
of  God."  We  know  not  the  precise  date  or 
circumstances  of  his  death,  nor  can  we  find 
any  particulars  of  especial  interest  in  his  life. 
Doubtless,  as  in  his  last  days  at  the  Island  he 
reviewed  his  pilgrimage,  it  must  have  seemed 
strange  to  him  to  find  himself  and  his  family 
cut  ofi*  from  fellowship  with  the  companions 
of  his  youth,  who,  though  still  living  with  him 
on  a  foreign  shore,  which  they  had  sought 
together  for  freedom  of  faith,  had  been  divid- 
ed by  a  wider  barrier  than  the  ocean.  We 
do  not  know  that  he  ever  complained  of  his 
lot.  Perhaps  it  was  not  to  him  so  great  a 
hardship   as   to  us  it  appears. 

Soon  after  her  husband's  death,  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson, with  all  her  surviving  family,  except  a 
daughter,  the  wife  of  Thomas  Savage,  and  a 
son,  Edward  Hutchinson,  who  remained  at  Bos- 
ton, removed  from  Rhode  Island  to  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  Dutch.  The  cause  of  her 
removal   does   not   appear.     Mr.    Welde   indeed 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  351 

shows  his  own  ignorance  of  the  true  cause,  by 
the  alternative  in  which  he  imphes  some  odious 
cause,  when  he  says,  "  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  being 
weary  of  the  Island,  or  rather,  the  Island  being 
weary  of  her,  departed  from  thence  with  all 
her  family."  The  probable  reason  which  influ- 
enced her,  was  one  which  we  know  induced 
others  about  that  time  to  go  to  Long  Island 
and  the  Dutch  settlements.  Massachusetts  was 
meditating  an  encroachment  upon  the  people  at 
Rhode  Island,  through  the  alleged  submission  of 
some  Indian  chiefs  to  its  authority,  and  the  ex- 
pressed desire  of  some  of  the  refugees  from  the 
Bay  again  to  put  themselves  under  the  protec- 
tion of  its  laws.  There  was  really  ground  for 
apprehending  that  the  Island  would,  by  a  most 
unlawful  extension  of  rights  restricted  by  the 
patent,  be  brought  under  the  rigid  control  of 
Massachusetts.  Wishing  to  be  secure  from  that 
probability,  many  persons  left  the  Island.  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  may  have  been  influenced  by  the 
same  motive  to  remove.  She  likewise  might 
wish  a  more  quiet  and  peaceable  abode,  where 
she  might  enjoy  her  peculiar  religious  views 
without  any  molestation  or  debate. 

It  is  also  doubtful  to  what  precise  spot  she 
removed.  Some  statements  afllirm  that  it  was 
on  the  mainland  between  New  Haven  and  New 
York,    that   she    found   a   settlement;    other   ac- 


352  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

counts  represent  her  as  going  to  Long  Island, 
very  near  to  Hell  Gate.  The  Indians  of  the 
main  and  of  the  Island  were  then  in  open  hos- 
tility with  the  Dutch ;  and  in  the  summer  of 
1643,  after  a  battle  between  the  Mohegans  and 
Narragansetts,  fifteen  Dutchmen  had  been  slain. 
It  is  altogether  probable  that  Mrs.  Hutchinson 
and  her  family,  with  some  more  of  the  English, 
were  then  settled  upon  the  mainland,  and  scat- 
tered over  a  space  of  a  mile  in  the  territory 
claimed  by  the  Dutch.  They  might  have  been 
supposed  to  be  Dutch  by  a  party  of  Indians, 
who,  thirsting  for  blood  and  booty,  fell  upon 
their  settlement  in  August,  1643.  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson, Mr.  Collins  and  his  wife,  with  all  the  rest 
of  the  family,  save  one  child,  who  was  carried 
into  captivity,  perished,  as  well  as  such  members 
of  two  other  families  as  were  in  their  houses  at 
the  time  of  the  attack.  The  whole  number  of 
persons  thus  slaughtered,  without  provocation  or 
cause,  was  sixteen.  Report  indeed  affirms,  that 
the  victims  were  confined  to  their  dwellings  and 
burned,  as  were  their  cattle.*  Such,  amid  an 
accumulation  of  horrors,  was  the  close  of  the 
career  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  With  the  piercing 
yell  of  the  Indians  in  her  ear,  with  her  children 


*  Winthrop,  Vol.  11.  p.  136;  and  Hutchinson's  Hist,  of 
Mass,  Vol.  I.  p.  72. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  353 

and  grandchildren  writhing  in  agonies  before  her 
eyes,  her  troubled,  and  yet  not  unhappy  life, 
was  ended.  Many  persons,  men,  women,  and 
children,  suffered  by  a  like  tragic  fate  in  the 
perils  attending  the  early  settlement  of  all  our 
colonies.  Of  the  greater  part  of  these,  as 
well  as  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  we  must  say,  that 
they  died  without  any  of  their  kindred  or  race 
to  soothe  their  pangs,  without  any  fellow-believer 
to  bear  witness  to  their  Christian  constancy,  and 
with  none  but  barbarian  hands  to  give  them 
burial,  even  if  this  last  service,  which  very  sel- 
dom was  the  case,  was  granted. 

Such  a  fate  shocks  us,  when  it  is  encountered 
by  the  robust  pioneer  of  the  forest ;  it  is  dismal 
and  distressing,  when  a  family  upon  a  border 
settlement  is  sacrificed  to  it  at  a  time  of  open 
and  mutual  hostilities  between  the  red  and  the 
white  men.  But  every  feature  of  horror,  which 
such  a  fate  ever  wears,  seems  to  invest  this  de- 
struction in  cold  blood  of  a  whole  household, 
no  one  of  which  had  probably  ever  wronged 
an  Indian,  and  who  were  seeking  in  a  wilder- 
ness peace  in  their  religious  faith,  and  the  hard 
comfort  of  sympathy  among  themselves  when  it 
was  denied  them  everywhere  else. 

It  was  in  but  too  faithful  accordance  with 
the  whole  treatment  which  Mrs.  Hutchinson  had 
received  in  Massachusetts,  that  when  the  shock- 
voL.  VI.  23 


354  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

iiig  tidings  of  her  destruction  reached  Boston, 
through  Connecticut,  the  grim  and  ungenial  faith 
of  the  Puritans  should  discern  in  it  an  especial 
token  of  an  angry  providence.  She,  who  had 
entertained  a  proud  notion,  had  first  been  given 
over  to  strange  delusions,  and  had  dared  to  boast 
of  revelations.  When  she  added  contumacy 
against  magistrates  and  elders  to  heresy,  she 
had  been  cursed  in  the  fruit  of  her  womb.  Still 
she  was  made  the  subject  of  especial  prayer, 
and  of  covenanted  council,  as  the  last  means 
which  could  reclaim  her,  and,  despising  these, 
God's  fury  fell  upon  her.  So  reasoned  and 
preached  some  divines  of  that  day,  doubtless  with 
a  sincerity  equal  to  her  own,  but  certainly  with 
no  less  of  obstinacy  or  voluntary  blindness  than 
she  herself  had  manifested. 

Probably,  however,  the  death  of  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson contributed  much  towards  the  complete 
restoration  of  peace  to  the  community,  which 
had  been  so  sorely  shaken  with  contention.  So 
long  as  her  influence  was  exerted,  however  in- 
direcdy,  the  feud  would  have  remained  open, 
and  the  profession  of  her  opinions  would  have 
been  freely  made  in  the  church  at  Boston.  A 
great  change  had  indeed  taken  place  there  by 
force  of  the  circumstances  which  have  been 
already  detailed.  Governor  Winthrop  records, 
in  the  fall  of  1639,  the  evidences  of  this  change. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  355 

He  says,  that  the  pastor  and  himself  had  sorely 
experienced  the  alienation  from  them  of  the  af- 
fections of  the  large  majority  of  the  church,  and 
had  suffered  many  slights ;  but  having  borne  all 
patiently,  "and   not   withdrawing   themselves   as 
they  were    strongly  solicited    to   have   done,  but 
carrying  themselves  lovingly   and  helpfully  upon 
all  occasions,"  the  hearts  of  the  people  had  been 
won   back    to   them,  and    the   church    had  been 
saved   from    threatening   ruin  beyond  all   expec- 
tation.    The  church,  indeed,  gave  a  strong  and 
a    valuable    proof    of  their   undiminished    confi- 
dence in    Winthrop,   by  sending  to  him  a  pres- 
ent of  two  hundred  pounds,  as  an  expression  of 
their  regard,  and  as  a  supply  for  some  straits  to 
which    he    had   been  reduced  by  the  unfaithful- 
ness   of  his    steward.*      The    character   of    this 
honored  and  upright  Governor  was  sorely   tried 
in  the  controversy,  upon  which  his  firm  and  well 
considered   views    compelled    him  to   take  a  de- 
cided stand.     An  honest  purpose  appears  in  all 
his  words  and  advice ;  and  though  he  was  prob- 
ably the  most  determined,  he  was  doubtless  also 
the  mildest  upon  his  side. 

William  Coddington  was  the  most  eminent 
and  influential  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  support- 
ers.     While  in  England,   in  1629,  he  had  been 

*  Winthrop,  Vol.  I.  p.  323. 


356  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

chosen  a  magistrate  or  assistant  of  the  in- 
tended colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  was 
several  times  re-chosen  here  to  that  high  office, 
besides  being  treasurer  of  the  colony.  In  leav- 
ing Massachusetts,  he  had  more  to  lose  than 
any  one  else,  as  he  was  a  principal  merchant 
in  Boston,  and  owned  a  large  property  with  im- 
provements at  Braintree,  and  would  have  been, 
doubtless.  Governor  of  the  colony.  But,  enter- 
ing his  protest  to  the  proceedings  against  Mrs. 
Hutchinson,  "  that  his  dissent  might  appear  to 
succeeding  times,"  he  undertook  a  new  exile. 
He  was  for  years  the  judge,  or  chief  ruler,  of 
the  Island,  and  died  as  Governor  of  the  colony 
under  the  charter,  having  never  recanted  his  sen- 
timents, nor  made  atonement  to  Massachusetts. 
William  Aspinwall,  who,  as  a  deacon  of  the 
church,  and  a  representative  of  Boston,  had  per- 
sonally carried  a  weight  of  influence  to  Mrs. 
Hutchinson's  party,  became  the  first  secretary 
of  the  colony  at  the  Island,  but  showed  some 
symptoms  of  regret  at  his  course  soon  after  set- 
tling there.  In  consequence  of  an  application 
which  he  made  to  the  General  Court  to  have 
his  sentence  of  banishment  removed,  that  he 
might  make  proper  atonement,  he  was  permitted 
to  come  to  Boston.  On  the  27th  of  March,  1642, 
he  tendered  his  submission,  and  was  reconciled 
to   the   church.       "  He   made,"    says   Winthrop, 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  357 

"a  very  free  and  full  acknowledgment  of  his 
error  and  seducement,  and  that  with  much  det- 
estation of  his  sin."  He  did  the  same  before 
the  magistrates,  and  by  the  next  General  Court 
was  reinstated.*  But  he  seems  afterwards  to 
have  given  himself  up  to  the  belief  of  a  wilder 
notion  than  any  which  he  renounced,  as  his  name 
appears  to  a  small  tract  advocating  the  delusion 
of  the  Fifth  Monarchy,  or  "  King  Jesus  "  party .f 
It  is  pleasant  to  record  that  the  most  re- 
spectful and  amicable  relations  were  restored 
between  Mr.  Wheelwright  and  his  brethren  in 
the  Bay.  He  had  been  earnestly  solicited  to 
accompany  his  fellow-sufferers  to  Rhode  Island, 
because  the  soil  and  the  people  were  far  richer 
than  those  of  his  settlement,  but  he  refused,  as 
Mr.  Cotton  says,  because  he  thought  their  judg- 
ment corrupt;  "professing  often,  whilst  they 
pleaded  for  the  Covenant  of  Grace,  they  took 
away  the  Grace  of  the  Covenant."  J  As  has 
been  already  stated,  he  went,  on  his  banishment, 


*  Winthrop,  Vol.  II.  p.  62. 

f  "  A  brief  Description  of  the  Fifth  Monarchy,  or  King- 
dom that  shortly  is  to  come  into  the  World,  the  Monarch, 
Subjects,  Officers  and  Laws  thereof,  and  tlie  Surpassing 
Glory,  Amplitude,  Unity  and  Peace  of  that  Kingdom,  &c., 
by  William  Aspinwall,  N.  E."     London,  1653. 

X  Cotton's  Answer  to  Baylie,  in  "  The  Way  of  Congre- 
gational Churches  cleared,"  &c.    London,  1648,  p.  61. 


358  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

to  Exeter,  and  there  formed  a  church,  of  which 
he  was  the  first  pastor.  Trouble  arising  between 
that  settlement  and  Massachusetts,  as  to  the 
power  of  jurisdiction,  he  removed,  in  1642,  to 
the  town  of  Wells,  near  Cape  Porpoise,  and 
became  the  pastor  of  a  church  there.  Feeling 
unwilling  to  prolong  the  hostile  relation  in  which 
he  now  stood,  as  under  censure,  with  his  breth- 
ren, he  made  the  first  motion  towards  reinstat- 
ing himself  in  their  good  affections.  He  wrote 
a  letter  to  Governor  Winthrop,  in  1643,  asking, 
through  him,  permission  of  the  Court  to  visit 
Boston  on  especial  business,  and  was  readily 
allowed  a  visit  of  fourteen  days.  He  availed 
himself  of  the  opportunity  to  confer  with  several 
of  the  elders,  and  he  gave  them  such  satisfac- 
tion, that  they  intended  to  seek  a  release  of  his 
sentence. 

In  September,  1644,  Mr.  Wheelwright  wrote 
to  the  Governor,  for  the  Court,  what  must  be 
allowed  to  have  been  a  most  submissive  and 
penitent  letter.  He  says,  that  after  long  and 
mature  consideration,  he  has  discovered,  that  the 
main  point  of  difference  in  the  controversy  about 
justification,  and  the  evidence  of  it,  '^  is  not  of 
that  nature  and  consequence  as  was  then  pre- 
sented to  me  in  the  false  glass  of  Satan's  temp- 
tations and  mine  own  distempered  passions, 
which   makes  me  unfeignedly  sorry  that   I   had 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  359 

such  a  hand  in  those  sharp  and  vehement  con- 
tentions raised  thereabouts,  to  the  great  disturb- 
ance of  the  churches  of  Christ."  He  adds  an 
expression  of  regret  for  his  censoriousness  in  the 
apphcation  of  his  sermon,  and  for  the  counte- 
nance which  he  gave  to  persons  of  corrupt  judg- 
ment ;  "  and  that,  in  the  Synod,  I  used  such 
unsafe  and  obscure  expressions,  falling  from  me 
as  a  man  dazzled  with  the  buffetings  of  Satan, 
and  that  I  did  appeal,  from  misapprehension  of 
things."  He  professed  his  readiness  to  give  sat- 
isfaction, if  he  could  be  convinced,  by  Scripture 
light,  that  he  had  in  anything  walked  contrary 
to  rule. 

This  writing  was  dated  at  Wells,  September 
10th,  1643,  most  probably  after  the  death  of 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  known  to  her  brother. 
The  Court  was  pleased  with  his  submission,  and 
granted  liim  safe  conduct  to  come  to  Boston 
and  clear  himself.  The  Governor,  informing  him 
of  this  result,  received  another  letter  for  the 
Court  from  Mr.  Wheelwright.  In  this  second 
communication,  some  qualifications  and  explana- 
tions are  presented,  which  we  should  expect  to 
find,  and  the  absence  of  which  astonishes  us  as 
we  read  the  first  letter.  He  now  says,  that  he 
should  expect  an  opportunity  in  Court  to  "ex- 
plain my  true  intent  and  meaning  more  fully  to 
this  effect;  that,  notwithstanding  my  faihngs,  for 


360  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

which  I  humbly  crave  pardon,  yet  I  cannot,  with 
a  good  conscience,  condemn  myself  for  such 
capital  crimes,  dangerous  revelations,  and  gross 
errors,  as  have  been  charged  upon  me,  the  con- 
currence of  which,  as  I  take  it,  make  up  the 
very  substance  of  the  cause  of  all  my  suflferings. 
I  do  not  see  but,  in  so  mixed  a  cause,  I  am 
bound  to  use,  may  it  be  permitted,  my  just  de- 
fence so  far  as  I  apprehend  myself  to  be  inno- 
cent, as  to  make  my  confession  where  I  am  con- 
vinced of  any  delinquency,"  His  banishment 
was  finally  released  by  the  Court,  without  his 
personal  appearance,  or  any  further  self-humilia- 
tion ;  and,  if  there  were  any  informality  in  the 
legal  process  which  cleared  him,  the  present  le- 
niency of  the  Court  was  but  a  suitable  apology 
for  its  former  severity.* 

Mr.  Wheelwright  removed  to  Hampton  in 
1647,  and  afterwards  went  to  England,  where  he 
was  intimate  with  Oliver  Cromwell.  Here  he 
remained  until  after  the  Restoration,  when  he 
returned,  and  settled  in  Salisbury,  where  he  died 
in  1679,  being  advanced  in  years,  and  the  oldest 
minister  in  the  colony.  He  had  felt  deeply 
grieved  at  the  imputations  cast  upon  him  by 
Mr.  Welde    and    Mr.  Rutherford,  and    he    pub- 

*  Mr.  Wheelwright's  Letters  are  given  by  Winthrop, 
Vol,  II.  pp.  162-164. 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  361 

lished  a  vindication  of  himself  against  their 
charges.  He  therein  quotes  these  words  of  Mr. 
Cotton  ;  '•  I  do  conceive  and  profess,  that  our 
brother  Wheelwright's  doctrine  is  according  to 
God  in  the  points  controverted ; "  and  he  also 
alleges  a  declaration  of  the  General  Court,  signed 
by  the  secretary  on  the  24th  of  August,  1654,  at 
the  request  of  his  church  at  Hampton,  affirming 
that  he  had,  for  several  years,  approved  himself 
a  sound,  orthodox,  and  profitable  minister.*  A 
short  tract,  published  in  London  in  1645,  bears 
the  name  of  John  Wheelwright,  Junior,  and  is 
professedly  an  answer  to  Mr.  Welde's  tract.  I 
cannot  think  that  Mr.  Wheelwright  wrote  this, 
though  it  flatly  denies  many  of  the  statements 
of  the  Roxbury  minister.  In  this  tract,  the  fol- 
lowing reference  to  Mrs.  Hutchinson  probably 
comes  nearer  to  being  a  fair  account  of  her,  than 
is  to  be  found  in  any  contemporary  document. 
"  In  spirituals,  indeed,  she  gave  her  understand- 
ing over  into  the  power  of  suggestion  and  im- 
mediate dictates,  by  reason  of  which  she  had 
many  strange  fancies,  and  erroneous  tenents  pos- 
sessed her.  For  a  pretended  revelation  of  the 
destruction  of  the  Court,  she  was  expelled  the 
Bay  of  Massachusetts."  f 

*  Mather's  Magnolia,  Book  VII.  Chap.  iii.  §  3. 
t  "  Mercurius  Americanus ;  Mr.  Welde  his  Antitype  ;  or, 
Massachusetts  Great  Apologist  examined.    Being  Observa- 


362  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Report  of  all  the  proceedings  connected  with 
the  heresies  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  and  of  the  dis- 
tractions which  had  torn  the  colony,  was  carried 
to  Europe,  and  widely  circulated  there.  While 
friends  were  grieved  and  alarmed,  foes  aggra- 
vated and  published  the  story  of  what  had  oc- 
curred in  New  England.  The  name  of  Mr.  Cot- 
ton was  freely  used  in  all  these  accounts,  and, 
as  before  hinted,  not  at  all  to  his  credit.  In- 
deed, he  barely  escaped  public  censure  from  the 
Court.  During  the  trial  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson, 
Deputy-Governor  Dudley  made  some  hard  allu- 
sions to  his  influence,  and  Hugh  Peters  seemed 
ready  to  put  him  under  the  same  indictment 
with  her.  The  powerful  protection  of  Winthrop 
was  his  security.  His  sermon  on  a  Fast  day, 
kept  by  his  church  on  account  of  its  recent 
troubles,  has  already  been  referred  to,  as  con- 
taining a  sort  of  confession  of  a  degree  of  de- 
lusion on  his  part.  The  temporary  cloud  which 
gathered  over  his  fair  fame  was  afterwards  dis- 
pelled ;  he  fulfilled  his  long  ministry  with  re- 
nown, and  died  in  the  odor  of  sanctity. 

But  Mr.  Cotton,  for  many  years  after  the  heat 
of  the  strife  had  subsided,  complained  of  certain 

tions  upon  a  Paper  styled  'A  Short  Story,'  &c.  Wherein 
some  Parties  therein  concerned  are  vindicated,  and  the 
Truth  generally  cleared.  By  John  Wheelwright,  Junior. 
London,  1645." 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  363 

private  letters  and  ungrounded  reports,  which 
had  cast  severe  reflections  upon  him,  and  brought 
him  under  unmerited  reproach  in  England.  The 
representations  of  his  course,  which  were  thus 
current,  were  eagerly  seized  by  the  then  famous 
Robert  Baylie,  who,  in  his  zeal  for  Presbyterian- 
ism,  wished  to  cast  all  possible  discredit  upon 
Independency,  by  showing  its  evil  fruits  every 
v.'here.  Mr.  Cotton,  as  the  most  renowned  of 
the  pastors  and  teachers  of  New  England,  the 
churches  of  which  stood  on  the  Independent 
platform,  would  naturally  be  a  prominent  mark 
for  Mr.  Bayhe,  who  devoted  several  pages  of 
a  treatise  on  the  errors  of  the  times  to  New 
England  Independency.  With  a  qualified  ad- 
mission of  Mr.  Cotton's  gifts,  and  a  reflection 
upon  him  for  having  been  so  long  an  Epis- 
copal preacher  in  England,  this  writer  charges 
him  with  a  dangerous  and  horrible  fall  into 
Antinomianism  and  Familism,  and  with  having 
been  the  principal  patron  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson 
and   her  followers.* 

To  each  sentence  and  specification  of  these 
charges  Mr.  Cotton  replied  with  candor  and 
calmness.     He  gives  high  praise  to  Mrs.  Hutch- 


*  « A    Dissuasive   from    the  Errors  of  the   Time,"  &c 
By  Robert  Baylie,  pp.  53-74. 


364  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

inson  for  the  qualities  and  services  by  which 
she  was  first  known  in  Boston,  and  says  that, 
for  a  long  time,  even  after  unfavorable  accounts 
were  circulated  concerning  her,  and  the  minis- 
ters had  taken  her  in  hand,  he  could  discover 
no  heresy  in  her,  and  therefore  had  no  reason 
to  withdiaw  his  esteem  from  her.  He  had  sent 
some  sisters  of  the  church,  in  whom  he  had 
confidence,  to  her  meetings,  but,  when  such  lis- 
tened for  the  purpose,  no  exceptionable  remarks 
could  be  heard  from  her.  He  says,  that  even 
when  he  esteemed  her  most  highly,  he  had  cen- 
sured her  with  faithfulness  for  three  spiritual 
failings,  namely ;  that  her  faith  was  not  begotten, 
nor  much  strengthened,  by  public  ministrations, 
but  by  private  meditations,  or  revelations;  that 
she  had  a  clear  discernment  of  her  justification, 
but  little  or  none  of  her  sanctification ;  and 
'-  that  she  was  more  sharply  censorious  of  other 
men's  spiritual  estates  and  hearts,  than  the  ser- 
vants of  God  are  wont  to  be,  who  are  more 
taken  up  with  judging  of  themselves  before  the 
Lord,  than  of  others."  Mr.  Cotton  then  al- 
ludes to  the  manner  in  which  he  had  been 
deceived,  and  the  misuse  which,  as  afterwards 
appeared,  had  been  made  of  his  name,  by  the 
followers  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  who  professed  one 
thing  to  him,  and   another   to   others,  and    pre- 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  JOO 

tended  to  agree  fully  with  his  doctrine  in  his 
public  discourses,  and  not  to  go  beyond  it. 
He  allows  that,  in  one  point  discussed  before 
the  Synod,  he  was  proved  to  be  in  error  by  the 
ministers.  But  to  Mr.  Bayhe's  assertion,  that 
he  intended  to  leave  the  New  England  churches 
with  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  on  account  of  his  Anti- 
iiomian  opinion  of  them,  as  legal  synagogues,  he 
indignantly  replies  that  he  had  no  such  inten- 
tion. The  ground  of  this  charge  was  a  purpose 
which  he  had  cherished,  in  answer  to  a  request 
from  sixty  persons,  to  remove  with  them  to 
New  Haven  for  the  sake  of  peace.  He  had 
likewise  disapproved  of  the  alien  law  passed  by 
the  Court,  because,  he  says,  "  I  saw  by  this 
means  we  should  receive  no  more  members 
into  our  church,  but  such  as  must  profess  them- 
selves of  a  contrary  judgment  to  what  I  believed 
to  be  the  truth."  He  plainly  and  unqualifiedly 
affirms,  that  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  guilty  of  false- 
hood in  denying  her  opinions,  and  was  for  that 
cast  out  of  the  church,  in  w^hich  punishment  he 
fully  accorded.* 

The  same  view  of  the  whole  controversy,  and 
of  his  own  position  and  course  in  it,  is  given  by 
Mr.    Cotton    in   his    ''Answer    to  Master   Roger 

*  Cotton's  JVay  of  the  Congregational  Churches  Clearedf 
pp.  38-66. 


366  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Williams.  "  *  The  simple  truth  is,  that  Mr.  Cot- 
ton was  himself  a  sincere  and  earnest  believer 
in  the  principal  tenet  which  was  first  identified 
with  the  teachings  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  He 
himself  preached,  that  there  was  an  inward  and 
all-essential  witness  within  the  breast  of  every 
one  who  was  in  an  accepted  state  before  God, 
and  that  this  witness  should  be  listened  to  and 
regarded  more  than  professions,  gifts,  and  graces. 
This  tenet  appears  in  many  of  his  writings.  He 
could  do  no  less  than  be  faithful  to  it,  and  to 
those  who  honored  it. 

The  preceding  pages  are  believed  to  contain 
all  that  is  necessary  to  enable  a  reader,  who  has 
an  interest  in  the  matter,  to  form  an  opinion 
of  the  character,  views,  and  course,  of  Mrs. 
Hutchinson,  and  of  the  controversy  to  which 
she  gave  birth  in  New  England.  The  writer 
would  feel,  that  he  had  most  unfairly  presented 
this  portion  of  ecclesiastical  and  civil  history, 
and  had  conveyed  an  impression  contrary  to  his 
own  convictions,  if  it  should  be  inferred  from  this 
narrative  that  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  an  amiable 
and  inoffensive  woman,  a  sage  in  wisdom,  a 
saint    in   piety,    the    teacher    and    witness  of   a 


*  "  The  Bloody  Tenent  Washed,  &c.  Whereunto  is 
added  a  Reply  to  Mr.  Williams's  Answer  to  Mr.  Cotton's 
Letter."    By  John  Cotton.    London,  1647,  p.  50. 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  367 

perfectly  sound  theological  tenet,  and  a  martyr 
to  a  patient  and  faithful  testimony  to  the  truth. 
The  writer  has  not  intended  to  represent  her 
as  entitled  to  either  epithet,  for  he  does  not  be- 
lieve that  she  fulfilled  all  the  conditions  for  de- 
serving either  epithet.  His  aim  has  been  to 
write,  with  strict  fidehty  to  truth,  an  interesting 
page  in  the  early  annals  of  New  England,  and, 
as  far  as  Mrs.  Hutchinson  is  involved  in  the 
distracting  and  melancholy  tale  which  it  tells, 
to  state  her  opinions  fairly,  to  record  how  they 
were  developed,  received,  and  abused,  and  to 
imply  the  wrong  which  she  did  to  others,  and 
the  wrong  which  others  did  to  her. 

The  faithful  expostulation  which  Mr.  Cotton 
says  he  had  with  her,  even  in  her  days  of  gen- 
eral esteem,  was  evidently  addressed  to  her  three 
great  failings  and  v/eaknesses,  her  spiritual  pride, 
her  contempt  of  public  ordinances,  and  her  cen- 
sorious tongue.  She  was  puffed  up  by  her  intui- 
tions and  self-assurance;  she  thought  no  ministra- 
tions of  religious  counsel  could  be  equal  in  value 
to  her  own  ;  and  she  was  guilty  of  offensive  per- 
sonalities. All  these  failings  too  were  aggravated 
by  her  sex,  which,  in  proportion  as  it  is  hon- 
ored above  that  of  men  for  its  patient  and  quiet 
virtues,  is  visited  with  uncourteous  and  unscru- 
pulous opposition  when,  even  in  a  good  cause, 
it  trenches  upon  the  province  of  masculine  influ- 


368  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

ence.  The  ministers  were  her  most  jealous, 
most  determined,  and  perhaps,  for  the  time,  her 
most  proper  opponents.  Devout  and  helpful 
females  have  always,  in  Protestant  communions 
at  least,  been  objects  of  mingled  gratitude  and 
anxiety  to  the  ministers  of  the  churches  in  which 
they  have  been  noted  personages.  In  general, 
those  different  feelings  are  decided  in  each  case 
by  the  manner  in  which  the  zeal  of  the  female 
heart  is  manifested ;  whether  by  offices  of  ten- 
derness and  mercy  to  the  afflicted,  or  chiefly  by 
the  tongue.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  labored  in  both 
ways,  and  received,  as  we  have  seen,  due  re- 
gard, till  the  prominence  in  her  teachings  of 
one  tenet,  which  is  really  liable  to  dangerous 
abuse,  raised  against  her  the  cry  of  heresy,  formed 
a  new  party,  and  imbittered  the  parties  already 
existing,  roused  all  bad  passions,  and  led  to  the 
result  which  will  always  close  a  religious  con- 
troversy when  the  civil  power  is  at  the  service 
of  either  side  in  it. 

But  allowing  all  just  exceptions  against  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  their  full  measure  and  weight,  she 
was  still  a  high-minded  and  excellent  woman. 
Her  religious  experience  had  been  troubled  and 
deep,  and  from  it  she  had  won  a  faith,  which, 
for  its  power  and  value,  was  more  to  her  than 
any  thing  the  earth  could  offer.  She  sought  to 
do   good    by   winning   others   to   share   it.     She 


ANNE     HUTCHINSON.  369 

performed  the  duties  which  it  required  of  her 
devotedly,  and  bore  the  sufferings  which  it 
brought  upon  her  submissively.  In  the  fervency 
of  her  devotion  she  was  equal  with  Madame 
Bourignon  and  Madame  Guion ;  she  taught  a 
safer  system  than  Ann  Lee,  and  ventured  not 
upon  the  dangerous  reforms  of  Mary  Wolstone- 
craft.  Any  other  person,  however  exalted  in 
character,  who  had  taught  the  same  tenets,  would 
have  received  at  that  time  equally  harsh  treat- 
ment with  herself  She  appears  to  have  been 
a  faithful  wife  and  mother,  and  for  aught  that 
can  now  be  discovered,  she  was  a  Christian  in 
heart  and  life.  The  only  stain  cast  upon  her 
character,  even  by  her  enemies,  is  in  the  im- 
putation of  falsehood  before  the  church.  We 
can  well  understand  how  she  may  have  been 
entirely  innocent  of  this  charge,  while  at  the 
same  time,  even  Mr.  Cotton  might  have  thought 
her  guilty  of  it.  Her  experience  and  fate  com- 
bine with  many  other  lessons,  which  have  been 
enforced  upon  Christendom  by  dismal  and  sor- 
rowful testimonies,  to  teach  the  wiser  way  of 
treating  religious  dissensions,  and  to  suggest  that 
perhaps  the  wisest  method  of  all  is  that  pro- 
posed by  Solomon,  "  Leave  off  contention  be- 
fore it  be  meddled  with." 

Thomas    Savage,    son-in-law    of  Mrs.    Hutch- 
inson, and   one    of   the    disarmed,    did    his   part 
VOL.  VI.  24 


370  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

towards  reconciliation,  when,  on  the  death  of  his 
wife,  in  1652,  he  married  a  daughter  of  the 
Reverend  Zachariah  Symmes,  one  of  the  most 
zealous  opposers  of  Antinomianism.  He  was 
Commander-in-chief  of  the  Massachusetts  forces 
at  the  opening  of  King  Philip's  war,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  council  from  1680,  till  he  died, 
on  the   14th  of  February,   1682. 

Edward  Hutchinson,  who  remained  in  Bos- 
ton when  his  mother  was  banished,  was  a  cap- 
tain, and  died  in  consequence  of  a  wound  re- 
ceived in  Q,uaboag  fight,  in  King  Phihp's  war. 
His  descendants  filled  places  of  trust  and  hon- 
or, and  his  great-grandson,  Thomas  Hutchinson, 
was  Governor  and  historian  of  Massachusetts. 
This  distinguished,  but  unfortunate  magistrate, 
in  his  brief  reference  to  the  controversy  with 
his  ancestress,  seems  so  anxious  to  avoid  par- 
tiality, that  he  has  perhaps  allowed  himself  to 
attach  to  her  more  of  censure  than  appears 
necessary  or  deserved. 


371 


APPENDIX 


Remonstrance  or  Petition  addressed  to  the  Gen- 
eral Court  of  Massachusetts,  in  March,  1637, 
and  acted  upon,  by  another  Court,  in  November 
following. 

As  so  much  importance,  in  the  controversy  with 
Mrs.  Hutchinson,  was  attached  to  this  document,  it  is 
here  printed,  with  the  names  subscribed  to  it,  that  the 
reader  may  judge  for  himself  as  to  its  character. 

"  We,  whose  names  are  underwritten,  have  dili- 
gently observed  this  honoured  Court's  proceedings 
against  our  deare  and  reverend  brother  in  Christ,  Mr. 
Wheelwright,  now  under  censure  of  the  Court,  for 
the  truth  of  Christ;  wee  do  humbly  beseech  this 
honourable  Court  to  accept  this  Remonstrance  and 
Petition  of  ours,  in  all  due  submission  tendered  to 
your  Worships. 

"  For,  first,  whereas  our  beloved  brother,  Mr. 
Wheelwright,  is  censured  for  contempt,  by  the  greater 
part  of  this  honoured  Court,  we  desire  your  Worships 
to  consider  the  sincere  intention  of  our  Brother  to 
promote  your  end  in  the  day  of  Fast,  for  whereas 
we  do  perceive  your  principal  intention  the  day  of 
Fast  looked  chiefly  at  the  public  peace  of  the 
Churches,    our    Reverend    brother    did    to   his    best 


372  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

Strength,  and  as  the  Lord  assisted  him,  labor  to 
promote  your  end,  and  therefore  indeavoured  to 
draw  us  neerer  unto  Christ,  the  head  of  our  union, 
that  so  wee  might  bee  established  in  peace,  which 
wee  conceive  to  bee  the  true  way,  sanctifyed  of  God, 
to  obtaine  your  end,  and  therefore  deserves  no  such 
censure  as  wee  conceive. 

"  Secondly,  Whereas  our  deare  Brother  is  cen- 
sured of  sedition ;  wee  beseech  your  Worships  to 
consider,  that  either  the  person  condemned  must  bee 
culpable  of  some  seditious  fact,  or  his  doctrine  must 
bee  seditious,  or  must  breed  sedition  in  the  hearts  of 
his  hearers,  or  else  wee  know  not  upon  what  grounds 
hee  should  bee  censured.  Now  to  the  first,  wee 
have  not  heard  any  that  have  witnessed  against  our 
brother  for  any  seditious  fact.  Secondly,  neither  was 
the  doctrine  itselfe,  being  no  other  but  the  very  ex- 
pressions of  the  Holy  Ghost  himselfe,  and  therefore 
cannot  justly  bee  branded  with  sedition.  Thirdly,  if 
you  look  at  the  effects  of  his  Doctrine  upon  the 
hearers,  it  hath  not  stirred  up  sedition  in  us,  not  so 
much  as  by  accident ;  wee  have  not  drawn  the  sword, 
as  sometimes  Peter  did,  rashly,  neither  have  wee 
rescued  our  innocent  Brother,  as  sometimes  the  Isra- 
elites did  Jonathan,  and  yet  they  did  not  seditiously. 
The  Covenant  of  free  Grace  held  forth  by  our 
Brother,  hath  taught  us  rather  to  become  humble 
suppliants  to  your  Worships,  and  if  wee  should  not 
prevaile,  wee  would  rather  with  patience  give  our 
cheekes  to  the  smiters.  Since  therefore  the  Teacher, 
the  Doctrine,  and  the  hearers  be  most  free  from 
sedition,  (as  we  conceive)   wee   humbly  beseech  you 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON. 


373 


in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  your  Judge 
and  ours,  and  for  the  honour  of  this  Court  and  the 
proceedings  thereof,  that  you  will  bee  pleased  either 
to  make  it  appeare  to  us,  and  to  all  the  world,  to 
whome  the  knowledge  of  all  these  things  will  come, 
wherein  the  sedition  lies,  or  else  acquit  our  Brother 
of  such  a  censure. 

"  Further,  wee  beseech  you  remember  the  old 
method  of  Satan,  the  ancient  enemy  of  Free  Grace, 
in  all  ages  of  the  Churches,  who  hath  raised  up 
such  calumnies  against  the  faithful  Prophets  of  God. 
Eliab  was  called  the  troubler  of  Israel,  1  Kings  xviii. 
17,  18.  Amos  was  charged  for  conspiracy,  Amos 
vii.  10.  Paul  was  counted  a  pestilent  fellow,  or 
moover  of  sedition,  and  a  ring-leader  of  a  sect,  Acts 
xxiv.  5,  and  Christ,  himselfe,  as  well  as  Paul,  was 
charged  to  bee  a  Teacher  of  New  Doctrine,  Mark 
i.  27,  Acts  xvii.  19.  Now  wee  beseech  you  consider, 
whether  that  old  serpent  work  not  after  his  old 
method,  even  in  our  daies. 

"  Further,  wee  beseech  you  consider  the  danger 
of  meddling  against  the  Prophets  of  God,  Psalm  cv. 
14,  15,  for  what  yee  do  unto  them,  the  Lord  Jesus 
takes  as  done  unto  himselfe.  If  you  hurt  any  of  his 
members,  the  head  is  very  sensible  of  it;  for  so  saith 
the  Lord  of  Hosts,  Hee  that  toucheth  you,  toucheth 
the  apple  of  mine  eye,  Zach.  ii.  8.  And  better  a 
mill-stone  were  hanged  about  our  necks  and  that 
wee  were  cast  into  the  sea,  than  that  wee  should 
offend  any  one  of  these  little  ones,  which  believe  on 
Him,  Matthew  xviii.  6. 

"  And  lastly,  we   beseech   you  consider,   how  you 


374  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

should  stand  in  relation  to  us,  as  nursing  Fathers, 
which  gives  us  encouragement  to  promote  our  humble 
requests  to  you,  or  else  wee  would  say  with  the 
Prophet,  Isaiah  xxii.  4,  Look  from  mee  that  I  may 
weep  bitterly,  Labor  not  to  comfort  mee,  &lc.  ;  or  as 
Jere.  ix.  2,  O  that  I  had  in  the  wilderness  a  lodging- 
place  of  a  wayfaring  man.  And  thus  hr*ve  wee  made 
known  our  griefes  and  desires  to  your  Worships,  and 
leave  them  upon  record  with  the  Lord,  and  with  you, 
knowing  that  if  wee  should  receive  repulse  from  you, 
with  the  Lord  wee  shall  find  grace." 

The  names  of  the  signers  or  approvers  of  this 
remonstrance,  being  of  course  those  who  for  this 
act  were  disarmed  by  order  of  the  Court,  are  thus 
given  upon  the  record.  (Colony  Records,  Vol.  L 
p.  208.) 

The  following  were  of  Boston.  Captain  John 
Underbill,  Mr.  Thomas  Oliver,  William  Hutchinson, 
William  Aspinwall,  Samuel  Cole,  William  Dyer, 
Edward  Rainsfoard,  John  Button,  John  Sanfoard, 
Richard  Cooke,  Richard  Fairbanks,  Thomas  Mar- 
shall, Oliver  Mellows,  Samuel  Wilbore,  John  Oliver, 
Hugh  Gunnison,  John  Biggs,  Richard  Gridley,  Ed- 
ward Bates,  William  Dinely,  William  Litherland, 
Matthew  lyans,  Henry  Elkins,  Zaccheus  Bosworth, 
Robert  Rice,  William  Townsend,  Robert  Hull,  Wil- 
liam Pell,  Richard  Hutchinson,  James  Johnson, 
Thomas  Savage,  John  Davy,  George  Burden,  John 
Odlin,  Gamaliel  Wayte,  Edward  Hutchinson,  William 
Wilson,  Isaack  Grosse,  Richard  Carder,  Robert  Har- 
dings,  Richard  Wayte,  John  Porter,  Jacob  Eliot, 
James  Penniman,  Thomas  Wardell,  William  Wardell, 


ANNE      HUTCHINSON.  375 

Thomas  Matson,  William  Baulston,  John  Compton, 
Mr.  Parker,  William  Freeborn,  Henry  Bull,  John 
Walker,  William  Salter,  Edward  Bendall,  Thomas 
Wheeler,  Mr.  Clarke,  Mr.  John  Coggeshall. 

Of  Salem,  were  Mr.  Scrugs,  Mr.  Alfoot,  Mr.  Com- 
mins,  goodman  Robert  Moulton,  goodman  King. 

Of  Newbury,  were  Mr.  Dummer,  Mr.  Easton,  Mr. 
Spencer. 

Of  Roxbury,  were  Mr.  Edward  Denison,  Richard 
Morris,  Richard  Bulgar,  William  Denison,  and  Philip 
Sherman. 

Of  Ipswich,  were  Mr.  Foster,  and  Samuel  Sherman. 

Of  Charlestown,  were  Mr.  George  Bunker,  and 
James  Browne. 

Besides  the  above  names,  the  remonstrance  must 
have  been  subscribed  by  the  following  persons,  whose 
names  are  mentioned  on  the  records  as  at  once  erased 
from  the  offensive  document  on  acknowledgment  of 
their  sin  in  subscribing  it.  They  of  course  escaped 
from  being  disarmed.  William  Larnet,  Ralph  Mousall, 
Ezekiel  Richardson,  Richard  Sprague,  Edward  Car- 
ing, Thomas  Ewar,  Benj.  Hubbard,  William  Baker, 
Edward  Mellows,  and  William  Frothingham. 

But  even  with  these  additional  names,  we  have  not 
all  the  adherents  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson^ and  her  brother. 
Mr.  Philemon  Pormont,  the  first  schoolmaster  of 
Boston,  accompanied  Mr.  Wheelwright  to  Exeter,  in 
1638.  The  Rev.  Daniel  Maude,  who  was  also  a 
schoolmaster,  and  who,  with  Mr.  Pormont,  is  to  be 
considered  as  leading  a  list  of  distinguished  and  able 
men  as  masters  of  the  public  Latin  School  in  Boston, 
may    be   supposed    to   have    been    infected   with   the 


(JJjjZaT 


376  AMERICAN     BIOGRAPHY. 

heresy.      He   was   settled  as  minister  of  the  church 
in  Dover,  N.  H.,  in  1642. 

Consulting  our  ancient  records,  with  all  these 
names  before  us,  we  can  form  a  fair  estimate  of  the 
strength  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  party  in  Boston,  and 
of  the  character  of  her  adherents.  The  writer  had 
intended  to  subjoin,  in  this  place,  a  brief  mention  of 
each  of  her  adherents,  that  a  single  line  of  comment 
upon  each  name  might  express  how  strong  and  gen- 
eral had  been  her  influence.  Such  comments,  how- 
ever, would  only  show  at  length  what  may  be  sum- 
marily stated  in  a  sentence;  namely,  that  men  of  all 
ranks  and  stations,  becrinninor  with  those  whose  names 
bear  the  prefix  of  gentlemen,  and  ending  with  the 
humblest  artisans  and  day-laborers,  embraced  her 
opinions  and  suffered  for  them.  Many  persons  now 
living  will  find  their  ancestors  upon  the  list. 


It  has  been  mentioned  in  the  preceding  narrative, 
on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Welde,  that  Mrs.  Hutchinson 
was  the  daughter  of  a  minister,  Mr.  Marbury.  I  can 
find  no  notice  of  this  gentleman  in  any  of  the  bio- 
graphical or  historical  works  of  his  time.  On  a  fly 
leaf  to  a  printed  Tract,  by  Mr.  Cotton,  is  a  list  6f 
"  Bookes  printed  for  George  Calvert,"  in  London,  and 
on  this  list  is  "  An  Exposition  on  the  Prophesie  of 
Obadia,  by  Edward  Marbury,  Minister  of  the  Gospel 
in  London."  This  Exposition  is  mentioned  by  Ro- 
senmijller,  in  his  Prolegomena  to  that  Book  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  the  date  affixed  is  1639.  The  expositor 
was  doubtless  the  father  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson. 


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